LEPIDOPTEEA. 279 



caterpillar has the form of a worm, and is of a glossy whiteness> 



with a few hairs thinly sprinkled over it and a grey line on 



its back. It is enclosed in a tube, or sheath, 



open at both ends, in the interior of which 



is a sort of tissue of wool, sometimes blue, 



sometimes green, sometimes red, according to 



the colour of the stuff to which the insect Fig . 293. The wooiien Moth 



attaches itself and which it despoils. The (Tinea tapezetla) ' 



exterior of this sheath is, on the contrary, formed of silk made 



by the insect itself, of a whitish colour. 



The caterpillars are hardly hatched before they begin to clothe 

 themselves. Reaumur observed one of these worms during the 

 operation of enlarging its case. To do this it put its head out of 



Fig. 294. Larvae of the Woollen Moth (Tinea tapezdla) 



one of the extremities of its sheath, and looked about eagerly, to 

 the right and to the left, for those bits of wool which suited it 

 best for weaving in. In Fig. 294, we see two larvae occupied in 

 eating a piece of cloth. 



" The larva changes its place continually and very quickly," 

 says Reaumur. " If the threads of wool which are near it are not 

 such as it desires, it draws sometimes more than half its body 

 out of its case to go and look for better ones further off. If it 

 finds a bit that pleases, the head remains fixed for an instant ; it 

 then seizes the thread with the two mandibles which are below its 

 head, tears the bit out after redoubled efforts, and immediately 



