CH. XV. J THE CATERPILLAR. 251 



merits for their own use. Like the human race, 

 they come into the world naked ; and their birth is 

 scarcely completed, when they begin the task of 

 clothing themselves. The reader will easily per- 

 ceive that the insects here alluded to are the little 

 moths which, in warm weather, are seen to issue 

 from our closets, where furniture, cloth, ermine, 

 feathers, all fall a sacrifice to the depredations, not 

 indeed of the moth itself, but of the worm which is 

 evolved from the egg of the moth. All that the 

 moth does is to deposite its eggs on these different 

 articles ; but it is the grub that proceeds from these 

 eggs that effects all the mischief. The grubs of the 

 different sorts of domestic moths do not make their 

 garments after the same fashion, nor of the same 

 materials. It is probable that the different species 

 of moths vary as much in this respect as the inha- 

 bitants of different countries: the shape of their 

 garment is peculiarly convenient ; it is a small cy- 

 lindrical tube open at both ends, and exactly fitted 

 to the body of the grub ; the stuff used for this pur- 

 pose is fabricated by the moth. The tissue is a 

 mixture of hair and silk ; but as this would not be 

 sufficiently soft for the tender body of the worm, it 

 is lined internally with pure silk. Articles manu- 

 factured of hair, fur, or wool supply the caterpillar 

 of the moth with the raw material which it wants 

 for the fabrication of its stuff; they select those 

 hairs which appear most suitable to their purpose ; 

 cut them with their teeth, and with admirable skill 

 incorporate them with their silky tissue. 



They never change their garment ; that which 

 they put on in infancy continues to shelter them 

 during the whole of their lives. But they are able both 

 to lengthen and widen their vesture whenever they 

 think proper. To lengthen it is a very simple pro- 

 cess : it only requires that a few new threads, or 

 new hairs, should be added to each end of their gar- 

 ment ; but to widen it is a matter of more difficulty : 



