AMOI^G CATERPILLARS 45 



tioii of a pellet of riffraff, movable with every 

 breath of wind, apparently to distract attention 

 from its presence ; its habit of retiring after feed- 

 ing (when a leaf no longer serves its purpose) to 

 the twig of the plant upon which it feeds, where it 

 is less easily observed ; and its construction of a 

 complex hibernaculum in which it passes the win- 

 ter, to secure which from falling to the ground it 

 securely enwraps the twig of the leaf of which it is 

 made with silken cords to the stem. 



Doubtless if the behavior of our other caterpil- 

 lars had been followed more closely, many would 

 show devices as complicated, various, and interest- 

 ing as those of Basilarchia. I have not attempted 

 to go outside our own fauna, but here much more 

 information is needed. We should not fail, how- 

 ever, to mention the almost universal habit of cat- 

 erpillars of eating their cast skins, so as to remove 

 from their immediate vicinity any traces of their 

 presence, a habit the more marked because I be- 

 lieve it is not shared by any of those caterpillars 

 which live in company, where the numbers are so 

 great that escape from observation woidd be impos- 

 sible, and safety lies only in their numbers. Nor 

 have I alluded to the special protection afforded to 

 many of the Lycaeninae by the presence of their 



