98 CATERPILLARS. 



Waked by his warmer ray, the reptile young 1 

 Come wing'd abroad. 



From ev'^ry chink 



And secret corner, where they slept away 

 The wint'ry storms ; or rising from their tombs 

 To higher life;, by myriads, forth at once, 



Swarming they come. 



THOMSON. 



I HAVE had a part of the dead branch of an 

 oak tree sent to me, found in Windsor Great 

 Park, on which the Caterpillar of the puss-moth 

 (Bombyx vinula) has constructed the outer case 

 of its cocoon, or rather a very ingenious covering 

 and protection to it. This case has been formed 

 to resemble the bark of the oak so completely, 

 that it is almost impossible to distinguish it from 

 that substance. Indeed so complete was the de- 

 ception, that until I shook the piece of branch, 

 and heard the rattle of the cocoon in the outer case, 

 I should not have discovered it. It is difficult to 

 conceive the possibility of a caterpillar producing 

 this imitative covering, which is quite as hard as 

 any part of the bark of an oak, and also of fixing 

 upon it a small piece of moss to assist the decep- 

 tion. That the barky and mossy substances have 

 been eaten off by the insect, and then reproduced 

 in their present form, cannot admit of a doubt. 

 But as this case must have been made by the ope- 



