portions, which the form of their case requires, and this 

 form is often of an exquisite k.nd. They connect and 

 unite them with incredible skill ; and conclude by lining 

 them with silk. They have then nothing to do but dis- 

 engage the clothing from within the liar' where it was 

 taken and cut, and that requires but a few efforts. 



12. Many field and aquatic moths do not prepare the 

 stuff for their clothing. Bits of wood, little sticks, 

 fragments of leaves, pieces of bark, &c. placed on each 

 other like tiles, compose the external clothing of the 

 case, which consists of pure silk. At other times it is co- 

 vered with gravel, pebble-stones, pieces of wood, little bits 

 of reed, and small shells, either of muscles or snails ; and, 

 what is scarce credible, the snails and muscles continue 

 to live in these shells ; for, being in a manner chained 

 to the case, they are obliged to follow the moth, that 

 carries them wherever it pleases. Thus, a moth in its 

 clothing, does not appear unlike certain pilgrims : those 

 that are covered with wood, gravel, stones, and other 

 unwieldy matters connected together, pretty nearly re- 

 semble a Roman soldier in heavy armour. You rightly 

 judge, that such kind of clothes must needs be very 

 roughly formed: but some of them nevertheless ioqk 

 very pretty, in which the arrangement of the materials 

 makes amends for their coarseness. Aquatic moths 

 reap some advantage by dressing themselves in such a 

 strange manner. They must be always in equilibrio 

 with the water, in the midst of which they live. If 

 their case prove too light, they add a little stone to it; 

 if too heavy, they fasten some bits of reed to it. All 

 these moths metamorphose themselves in their case ; 

 some into butterflies, others iuto flies, and others into 

 beetles. 



13. Some field moths borrow no strange matters to 

 clothe themselves with ; they dress entirely in silk ; but 

 their tissue is much closer, finer, and more glossy, than 

 that of the most beautiful caterpillars. It has a still 

 greater singularity ; being composed of little scales, like 



VOL. IV. M 



