34 THE BROOK BOOK 



practice a rude form of architecture. They appear 

 again in a chapter called "An Insect Law-breaker." 



Perhaps the most well-known of the caddice- 

 worm family are the little "Householders." They 

 can hardly be counted civilized, since they have no 

 fixed homes. They are more like the nomadic 

 tribes, for they are at home wherever they happen 

 to be, even in the small boy's aquarium or in a 

 fruit jar on my study table. They are literally 

 "Householders," for they carry their houses every- 

 where they go, not on their backs like the turtles, 

 but all over their bodies. When the outlook from 

 the front door does not please, this caddice-worm 

 retires and its house floats up near the surface of 

 the water. 



When I first looked into the water I did not see 

 that these differed from any other small stick or 

 bundle of sticks. But warily, without wishing to 

 awaken suspicion in any one's mind, out from the 



little bundle I was watch- 

 ing came a head. Several 

 legs, long and spidery, 

 then reached forth and 

 made a rather poor show 

 of paddling away. The 

 first water plant which 

 happened to be reached was seized with avidity, 

 and the caddice-worm, house and all, hurried away 

 among the stems and leaves. 



Evidently the "cob-house" style of architecture 

 did not originate with our family, though one of 

 our childhood joys was the manufacture of high 



CADDICE-WORM CASES 



