Thn Caddis-Worm 



the soft and the hard. On the one hand, we 

 have a live aquatic plant, such as watercress, 

 for instance, or ombrelle d'eau, having at its 

 base a tufty bunch of fine white roots about 

 as thick as a horsehair. In these soft tresses, 

 the Caddis-worm, which observes a vegeta- 

 rian diet, will find at one and the same time 

 the wherewithal to build and eat. On the 

 other hand, we have a little faggot of bits 

 of wood, very dry, equal in length and each 

 possessing the thickness of a good-sized pin. 

 The two sorts of building-material lie side by 

 side, mingling their threads and sticks. The 

 animal can make its choice from the lump. 



A few hours later, having recovered from 

 the shock of losing its sheath, the Caddis- 

 worm sets to work to manufacture a new one. 

 It settles across a bunch of tangled rootlets, 

 which are brought together by the builder's 

 legs and more or less arranged by the undula- 

 ting movement of the hinder-part. This gives 

 a kind of incoherent and ill-defined suspensory 

 belt, a narrow hammock with a number of 

 loose catches; for the various bits of which 

 it is made up are respected by the teeth and 

 extended from place to place beyond the main 

 cords of the roots. Here, without much 



trouble, is the support, suitably fixed by na- 



189 



