210 Insect Architecture. 



angle thus formed an oblong structure was made, composed, 

 as before, of wood-raspings and silk, but much stronger in 

 texture than the winter cell. In a few weeks (four, if we 

 recollect aright) the moth came forth. (J. E.) 



[I have now before me a series of three cocoons, made by 

 one caterpillar of the goat-moth, showing its increase in 

 size during the three years that it remained in the larval 

 state. They were found in an old willow tree, and occupied 

 different parts of the same burrow. The ravages which a 

 goat-moth caterpillar can make in a tree are almost incredible 

 to those who have not seen the long and tortuous burrows 

 which the insect will construct, burrows which at first are 

 small and insignificant, but which afterwards become large 

 enough to admit a man's finger. 



[Sometimes the tunnel runs just under the bark, and 

 sometimes it goes straight towards the centre of the tree ; 

 and no small labour is required before it can be fully traced. 

 Still, the result is worth the labour, for it is most inter- 

 esting to trace the creature through its whole existence, 

 from the tiny hole which it made soon after its exit from 

 the egg, to the large aperture through which it emerged as 

 a moth. The whole of the tunnel is strongly imbued with 

 the peculiar and unpleasant odour which has given to the 

 goat -moth its popular name ; and the scent is so per- 

 sistent, that it adheres to the fingers which have touched the 

 sides of the tunnel, and pan scarcely be removed even by 

 repeated washings. 



[The moth itself is a well-known insect, though rarely 

 seen except by night. It is large, brown, round bodied ; 

 the wings are covered with a soft and downy clothing, which 

 strongly reminds the observer of the plumage of an owl.] 



A wood-boring caterpillar, of a species of moth much 

 rarer than the preceding (Mgcria asiliformis, STEPHENS), 

 exhibits great ingenuity in constructing a cell for its meta- 

 morphosis. We observed above a dozen of them during 

 this summer (1829) in the trunk of a poplar, one side of 

 which had been stripped of its bark. It was this portion 

 of the trunk which all the caterpillars selected for their 



