CHAPTER XXIII 



SILK 



S<><)\I<]R or later, according to its species, a 

 day comes when the larva feels itself strong 

 enough to face the perils of metamorphosis. It has 

 valiantly done its duty, since to stuff its paunch is 

 the duty of a worm; it has eaten for two, itself and 

 the matured insect. Now it is advisable to renounce 

 feasting, retire from the world, and prepare itself 

 a quiet shelter for the death-like sleep during which 

 its second birth takes place. A thousand methods 

 are employed for the preparation of this lodging. 



"Certain larvae simply bury themselves in the 

 Around, others hollow out round niches with pol- 

 ished sides. There are some that make themselves 

 a case out of dry leaves: there are others that know 

 how to .irlue together a hollow hall out of grains of 

 sand or rotten wood or loam. Those that live in 

 1 ree t nmks stop up with plugs of sawdust both ends 

 of the galleries they have hollowed out; those that 

 live in wheat -naw all the farinaceous part of the 

 i, scrupulously leaving untouched the outside, 

 or bran, which is to serve them as cradle. Others, 

 with less precaution, shelter themselves in some 

 crack of the Lark or of a wall, and fa-ten themselvefl 

 there l.y a strinir which goes round their body. To 



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