The Life of the Caterpillar 



ring his time as a spinner and a picker-up of 

 straws. The whole interior of the case is 

 padded with thick white satin. But how 

 greatly preferable to this too-compact and 

 luxurious upholstery is the delightful eider- 

 down bedding of the new-born youngsters! 



We know the preparations made for the 

 coming family. Now, where are the eggs? 

 At what spot are they laid? The smallest 

 of my three Psyches, who is less misshapen 

 than the others and freer in her movements, 

 leaves her case altogether. She possesses a 

 long ovipositor and inserts it, through the 

 exit-hole, right into the chrysalid slough, 

 which is left where it was in the form of a 

 bag. This slough receives the laying. When 

 the operation is finished and the bag of eggs 

 is full, the mother dies outside, hanging on to 

 the case. 



The two other Psyches, who do not carry 

 telescopic ovipositors and whose only method 

 of changing their position is a dubious sort 

 of crawling, have more singular customs to 

 show us. One might quote with regard to 

 them what used to be said of the Roman 

 matrons, those model mothers : 



"Domi mansit, lanam fecit." 



214 



