MADE BY CATERPILLARS 103 



turned it over ; often they liave to cut two chan- 

 nels in order to procure a flap sufficiently small 

 for their purposes ; and it is curious to watch one 

 of these tender creatures, just as soon as it has 

 devoured its egg-shell, struggling with a tough oat 

 leaf to build for itself a house. These nests are 

 much more firmly made, the silken fastenings being 

 composed of many strands, often very tough. On' 

 leaving one nest to construct a larger, the cater- 

 pillar always, I believe, first bites off the threads 

 of the old nest and gives the flap a chance to resume 

 its position, which, however, it rarely fully does. 

 When older, many of these same skippers find a 

 single leaf of their food-plant too small to conceal 

 them, and so they draw several leaves together just 

 as they grow upon the plant, and, retaining them 

 in the desired place by silken bands, live within 

 the leafy bower. This mode of construction is 

 adopted almost from the first by the Pamphilini 

 which feed on grasses, the proximity of adjoining 

 blades near the base affording a good chance to 

 attach them together, while a cluster of blades 

 furnishes a similar chance to construct the some- 

 what tubular nest they require when they have 

 grown large and fat. 



A nest composed of several leaves is not made 



