100 

 sufficient warmth for the young offspring, but not so hot as to destroy instead of nourishing 

 them. The sides of a wall underneath the eaves of a house, is the place often pitched on 

 for this purpose. Thus prompted by nature, and instinctively knowing the necessity of per- 

 forming this work, they carry a quantity of dirt, and place it against the wall, which they 

 temper and soften with a hquor issuing from their bodies, that renders it sufficiently strong 

 and tenacious, and when dry, is proof against any rains that may happen to get at it. The 

 nest is composed generally of about a dozen cells, that are round, and sufficiently capacious to 

 hold the caterpillar when grown to its full size ; each of which is about an inch long, and 

 about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, lying parallel with each other, and formed in such 

 a manner, that each cell lies between two others, both above and below it, except the outward 

 ones, having a hole left open at the extremity of each, for the parents to go in and out at 

 pleasure. See Plate 45. Fig. 8. that at 9 being a nest supposed to be cut through its middle, 

 to shew the form of the cells, and manner of their being built. The industry exerted on this 

 occasion is remarkably great, for in a few days the whole is completed. There is no doubt 

 but the heat of the climate greatly contributes to facilitate this work, as the dirt of which it 

 is composed is quickly dried, and by that means enables them to be very expeditious. Their 

 next emplo}Tnent is procuring a number of small spiders, with which each cell is properly 

 filled, and are to serve for food to the young brood ; of these they always take care to lay 

 in such a sufficient store, that the young ones seldom, if ever, perish from want. I have 

 opened many of these cells, and constantly found a spider remaining uneat, sometimes two, 

 and not seldom three, so that it is evident the parent animal makes ample provision for the 

 appetite of its young. By the time one cell is replenished with provision, the pregnant 

 female, finding the eggs within her ripening to maturity, and under the necessity of dis- 

 charging them, lays a single one in the cell, and then covers up the hole with dirt, which 

 was left open for a passage, in so neat and curious a manner, that the nicest eye could not 

 discover the place where they used to enter. She then proceeds in the same manner to the 

 next, and so on, till all her eggs are emitted and laid in their respective cells, each cell being 

 furnished with a single egg and no more. My correspondent assures me, he is not certain 

 whether the male assists in building the nest, or whether it is the sole production of the 

 female ; but they both equally contribute to furnish it with provision, which they carefully 

 watch and preserve from the ants, that in that hot climate would soon rob them of. In a 

 little time the young ones are hatched ; and each, finding in its respective habitation a pro- 

 per quantity of food, subsists thereon, and there lives unseen, till it arrives to its complete 

 state. When it (the caterpillar) is advanced to its full size, it forms round itself a brown 

 case, as appears at Fig. 7. Plate 44. and at Fig. 10. Plate 45. and in that inclosure under- 

 goes its transformation ; when it puts on its form as at Fig. 8. Plate 44. remaining with its 

 legs, wings, and horns, closed round, as is there shewn, till it has acquired strength to break 

 its enclosure. At its first assuming this form, it is white, soft, and tender, and its wings 

 shorter than those in the figure ; in a few weeks its becomes hard, strong, and of its proper 



