ARCHITECTURE OF MOTHS. 85 



grains of stone, from walls where the lichens grow. 

 There is a curious memoir on the subject of these 

 insects in the Transactions of the French Academy,* 

 by M. de la Voge. That gentleman supposed that, 

 because these larva were found in such abundance 

 on mouldering walls, that they possessed the property 

 of eating stone, and considered them as the means 

 which Time employed to carry into effect his slow 

 but certain destruction of all things ; but which ought 

 rather to be attributed to atmospheric erosion. 

 Reaumur justly remarks, that these larvae are so 

 small, and the particles of which their covering is 

 composed so minute, that ages were not sufficient for 

 them to produce any perceptible impression. 



They have been termed Stone-mason Caterpillars ; 

 their tents are shewn in the following figure. Those 

 adhering to the stone at No. 1 , are the size of nature, 

 and No. 2 is a magnified representation. 



Various caterpillars, which produce their habitation 

 from pure silk, are not satisfied with a single coating 

 of it, but spin for themselves an upper garment, 

 resembling a cloak, open at one side, which Reaumur 



Trans, French Acad. x. 458. 



