The Psyches: the Laying 



Let us now remove the outside of the straw 

 envelope, shredding It piecemeal. The demo- 

 lition gives us a varying number of joists: I 

 have counted as many as eighty and more. 

 The ruin that remains is a cylindrical sheath 

 wherein we discover, from one end to the 

 other, the structure which we perceived at the 

 front and rear, the two parts which are natu- 

 rally bare. The tissue everywhere is of very 

 stout silk, which resists without breaking 

 when pulled by the fingers, a smooth tissue, 

 beautifully white Inside, drab and wrinkled 

 outside, where It bristles with encrusted woody 

 particles. 



There will be an opportunity later to dis- 

 cover by what means the caterpillar makes 

 himself so complicated a garment, in which 

 are laid one upon the other, In a definite 

 order, first, the extremely fine satin which Is 

 In direct contact with the skin; next, the mixed 

 stuff, a sort of frieze dusted with ligneous 

 matter, which saves the silk and gives con- 

 sistency to the work; lastly, the surtout of 

 overlapping laths. 



While retaining this general threefold ar- 

 rangement, the scabbard offers notable varia- 

 tions of structural detail in the different 



191 



