SUSPENSION OF THE LARVA. 207 



of the Larva ; and it may be mentioned, that the 

 insects, whose larvae perform this manoeuvre, are 

 almost exclusively the butterfly tribe. There are 

 various ways of effecting this object. The spin- 

 ning apparatus, by which the cords are to be formed 

 to sustain the body of the insect in the air, is 

 situated in the mouth of the larva, and it may well 

 be imagined that the insect, which is about to hang 

 itself up by the tail, has no easy task to perform in 

 having to fasten its cords to the tail, and then to 

 the branch above it. If a spider wished to hang 

 itself up by the tail it would be a very easy thing 

 so to do, for the spinning apparatus is placed there, 

 and it has only to let itself fall from a branch 

 after first glueing the end of the cord to it ; but a 

 larva is differently circumstanced, and it requires 

 no slight display of ingenuity to accomplish its 

 purpose. 



Its first process is to select a suitable leaf or 

 twig, upon which it weaves a sort of little mound 

 of silk of the shape of a button. This done, it 

 examines it carefully to ascertain its strength, and 

 satisfied therewith, it then proceeds to thrust its 

 two hind legs in amongst the threads of which 

 the button is composed, and in so doing it causes 



