TREE-CADDIS. ill 



Among vegetables the analogues are multitudinous. See, for 

 example, the spikes of the Spanish and Horse Chestnuts, and 

 especially the hair-like but formidable bristles which defend 

 the common Prickly Pear. Indeed, all that tribe of plants is 

 furnished so abundantly with natural ranjows, that a hedge of 

 prickly pear forms the best defence which a house and garden 

 can have. 



Another example of natural ranjows is seen in the Tree-caddis, 

 one of which is shown in the illustration on page 108, as it 

 appears when suspended from a twig. It is the work of one of 

 the House-builder Moths of the West Indies, and forms a sort 

 of house in which the caterpillar can rest securely. It is built of 

 bits of twigs and thorns, the latter being disposed so that their 

 points are outwards, much after the fashion of a hedgehog's 

 spines. 



I possess many specimens of Tree-caddis, evidently belonging 

 to several species, and in all of them the principle is the same, 

 i.e. a number of spikes set with their ends outwards in order 

 to defend a central position. 



Sometimes these spikes are left exposed, as shown in the 

 illustration, and sometimes they are covered with a slight but 

 strong web. The principle, however, is the same in all. 



Now I shall have to use two very long words, and much 

 against my will. I very much fear that, if most of my readers 

 were to hear any one speak of the " repagula of Ascalaphus," 

 they would not be much the wiser. And yet there are no 

 other words that can be used. 



In the first place, Ascalaphus is a name belonging to a 

 genus of Ant-lions, remarkable for having straight, knobbed 

 antennae, very much like those of a butterfly. This insect 

 deposits its eggp in a double row on twigs, and then defends 

 them with a series of natural ranjows, set in circular rows, 

 and supposed to be without analogies in the animal creation. 

 They are transparent, reddish, and " are expelled by the 

 female with as much care as though they were real eggs, and 

 are so placed that nothing can approach the brood ; nor can 

 the young ramble abroad until they have acquired strength to 

 resist the ants and other insect enemies." 



The word "repagulum," by the way, signifies a bar or barrier. 



