36 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



describe. From the resemblance of her actions to 

 the well-known account of those of the eider-duck, 

 whose maternal love strips her breast of down for the 

 purpose of protecting her eggs, we might almost 

 venture to call this moth the eider-moth, were it not 

 that it is known under another and far less appro- 

 priate name the gipsy-moth. Indeed, in the care 

 of the insect the mother's love is, as we might say, 

 even more powerful than in the bird; for, while 

 the latter has the pride and pleasure of seeing her 

 little ones grow up around her, the poor insect, after 

 stripping herself of her own soft, warm down, thus 

 testifying her love to her offspring even to death, 

 presently expires. The insect in forming her nest 

 first plucks off, by means of a singular instrument, 

 like a pair of tweezers, with which she is provided, 

 a little portion of down from her body ; seated 

 upon a tree, she attaches this to its trunk, and then 

 deposits an egg in it, which immediately adheres 

 to the down, and becomes coated with it. The 

 remainder of her operations, until she has depo- 

 sited the entire number of eggs, are but repetitions 

 of the same actions. When the process is at an 

 end, she begins to form a regular tile or covering 

 to her nest, and this she effects with a degree 



