LEPIDOPTERA. 



153 



fixes it then more securely by spinning over it. It does not leave 

 off tearing out its hairs till it has entirely stripped them off. When 

 the caterpillar has taken between 

 its jaws and torn out a whole 

 tuft of hair, the head carries it 

 and deposits it on some part of 

 the lower surface of the cocoon ; 

 but it does not leave the hairs 

 of such a large parcel together. 

 The next moment one sees its 

 head moving about very quickly ; 

 then taking a portion of the hairs 

 ■from the little heap, it distributes 

 them about on the neighbouring 

 parts of the cocoon. If one opens 

 one of these shells before the cater- 

 pillar has become a chrysalis, the 

 larva, which is quite naked, and 

 which was only known by its hair, 

 can be no longer recognised." 



The caterpillar of the Tiger 

 Moth, or Woolly Bear, called 

 by Reaumur Marte or Herisson 

 {Chelonia caja^ Fig. 116), is 

 covered with long inclined hairs. 

 This caterpillar also makes use 



of its hairs for strengthening the tissue of its cocoon ; but whether it 

 feels the pain more acutely than the former, or whether it would 



Fig. 



-T^arva of Acronycta aceris taken out 

 of its cocoon. 



Fig. 116. — Larva of Chelonia caja. 



suffer more, it does not tear out its hairs. It adopts another system ; 

 it cuts them. The caterpillar is then enveloped on all sides in its 

 hair, which is to serve in the construction of its cocoon (Fig. 1 17). 



