The Clythrae 



increase its capacity by inserting a strip would 

 be an imprudent expedient, which would ex- 

 pose the occupant to danger during the slow 

 work of repair. The hermit of the jar can 

 do better than that. It knows how to enlarge 

 its gown while leaving it, except for its ful- 

 ness, as it was before. 



Its paradoxical method is this: of the li- 

 ning it makes cloth, bringing to the outside 

 what was inside. Little by little, as the need 

 makes itself felt, the grub scrapes and strips 

 the interior of its cell. Reduced to a soft 

 paste by means of a little putty furnished by 

 the intestine, the scrapings are applied over 

 the whole of the outer surface, down to the 

 far end, which the grub, thanks to its perfect 

 flexibility, is able to reach without taking too 

 much trouble or leaving its house. 



This turning of the coat is accomplished 

 with a delicate precision which preserves the 

 symmetrical arrangement of the ornamental 

 ridges ; lastly, it increases the capacity by a 

 gradual transfer of the material from the in- 

 side to the outside. This method of renew- 

 ing the old coat is so accurate that nothing is 

 thrown aside, nothing treated as useless, not 

 even the baby-wear, which remains encrusted 

 in the keystone at the original top of the 

 structure. 



457 



