96 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



are admirably adapted, while they are quite unsuited 

 for browsing upon tender succulent * leaves. Their 

 forcible jaws readily rend the dense woody tissue ; the 

 legs are small, so as to prove no hindrance in the 

 narrow tunnels ; and the head is protected by a hard 



FIG. 10. A Sack-bearing Caterpillar (Saccophora) ; from Bates. 



and reddish integument, affording solid support for the 

 strong masticating apparatus. Larvae of moths of 

 the family Hepialidse, abundant in Africa, America, 

 and Australia, many of them of enormous size, have 

 exactly similar habits. Our own country is not 

 exempt from the ravages of the wood-borers of 



