152 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



resembling paste, which they apply with their head to the inside of 

 the cocoon, and which, drying quickly, becomes pulverulent. Others 

 employ for the same purpose the hairs with which 

 their bodies are covered. 



The larva of Acronycta aceris (Fig. 113) is 

 covered with tufts of yellow hair. Reaumur made 

 these caterpillars work under his own eye in glass 

 vases. They make the layer which is to form the 

 exterior surface of their shell, or cocoon, of pure 

 silk, and when it is thick enough, tear out their 

 hair, now from one place, now from another. But 

 we will leave the illustrious observer to relate this 

 operation himself, which must without doubt be 

 painful to the poor animal : 



" Its two jaws are the pincers the caterpillar 

 uses in seizing a portion of one or other of the 

 tufts of hair ; and when it has seized it, it tears it out without much 



Cocoon, 



T ig. in. 



after Re 



Fig. 113. Larva of Acronycta aceris. 



difficulty. It at once places this against the tissue it has already 

 commenced, in which it entangles it at first simply by pressure ; it 



