458 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



but of a long- triangular portion cut out of the edge, 

 some other manoeuvres are requisite. Placing herself 

 upon the leaf, the caterpillar cuts out with her jaws 

 the piece Avhich is to compose her roll. She does not 

 however entirely detach it : it would then want a base. 

 She detaches that part only which is to form the con- 

 tour of the horn. This portion is a triangular strap, 

 which she rolls as slie cuts. AVhen the body of the 

 horn is finished, as it is intended to be fixed upon the 

 leaf in nearly an upright position, it is necessary to 

 elevate it. To effect this she proceeds as we should 

 with an inclined obelisk. She attaches threads or little 

 cables towards the point of tiie pyramid, and raises it 

 by the weight of her body^. 



A still greater degree of dexterity is manifested in 

 fabricating the habitations of the larvae of some other 

 TineaB which feed on the leaves of the rose-tree, apple, 

 elm, and oak, on the under-side of which they may in 

 summer be often found. These form an oblong cavity 

 in the interior of a leaf by eating the parenchyma be- 

 tween the two membranes composing its upper and 

 under side, which, after having detached ther.i from 

 the surrounding portion, it joins with silk so artfully 

 that the seams are scarcely discoverable even with a 

 lens, so as to compose a case or horn, cylindrical in the 

 middle, its anterior orifice circular, its posterior tri- 

 i^ngular. Were this dwelling cylindrical in every 

 part, the form of the two pieces that compose it would 

 be very simple ; but the different shape of the two 

 ends renders it necessary that each side should have 

 peculiar and dissimilar curvatures ; and Reaumur as- 



• Bonnet, ix. 188. 



