IN THE GENUS BASILARCHIA 81 



g-reater pains ; tliis is done by eating away or 

 biting off the unnecessary parts, and leaving on 

 either side of the base of the leaf little flaps just 

 large enough, when drawn together, bottom side up 

 and meeting above, to form a cylinder into which 

 it can squeeze ; a projecting shelf is also left 

 beyond the opening, on which it may stand when 

 ready to crawl in, and upon which it may back out 

 in the spring ; the whole of the inside and the upper 

 surface of the shelf are then plastered over with a 

 dense coating of brown silk and the flaps drawn 

 together ; more than that, with strangest foresight, 

 the petiole of the leaf is thorough!}^ fastened to 

 the stem by numberless threads passed carefully 

 and tightly around both ; into this cylinder it then 

 crawls head foremost, completely filling the cavity, 

 closing the beveled hmder opening with the 

 sloping tuberculate and sharpened terminal seg- 

 ments, sure to find itself there when the long night 

 of winter is passed. No, not quite sure, for a wasp 

 or some other predaceous insect will sometimes tear 

 this fine castle open and destroy its single occu- 

 pant. Whether it is an additional safeguard or 

 not, it is an instructive fact that, at least where 

 the winters are most severe, nearly all these 

 hibernacula are made out of leaves so near the 



