FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



To protect himself from the weather the chilly, bare- 

 skinned Psyche builds himself a portable shelter, a 

 travelling cottage which the owner never leaves until 

 he becomes a Moth. It is, indeed, something better than 

 a hut on wheels, with a thatched roof to it: it is more 

 like a hermit's frock, made of an unusual kind of ma- 

 terial. In the valley of the Danube the peasant wears 

 a goatskin cloak fastened with a belt of rushes. The 

 Psyche wears even rougher raiment than this : he makes 

 himself a suit of clothes out of sticks. And since this 

 would be a regular hair-shirt to a skin so delicate as his, 

 he puts in a thick lining of silk. 



In April, on the walls of my chief workshop my 

 stony harmas with its wealth of insect life I find the 

 Psyche who will supply me with my most detailed infor- 

 mation. He is in the torpid state which shows he will 

 soon become a Moth. It is a good opportunity for 

 examining his bundle of sticks, or case. 



It is a fairly regular object, shaped like a spindle, and 

 about an inch and a half long. The pieces that compose 

 it are fixed in front and free at the back. They are 

 arranged anyhow, and would form rather a poor shelter 

 against the sun and rain if the hermit had no other 

 protection than this. 



At the first glance it appears like thatch; but thatch 

 is not an exact description of it, for grain-stems are rarely 



[90] 



