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CHAPTER V. 



OF SOCIABLE CATERPILLARS, OR THOSE WHICH LIVE 

 IN SOCIETIES. 



WE shall now proceed to describe the habitations 

 of a different tribe. Most individuals must have 

 observed, during their walks through a garden or 

 orchard, the fruit trees disfigured by what would 

 appear a strong and thick spider's web. If these 

 are attentively examined, it will be found that they 

 differ materially in their construction from those 

 spun by spiders, for they enclose on every side an 

 angular space, and will be found filled with the 

 larvae of Bombyx chrysorrhcea. The web is the 

 produce of their united labour, as they are gregarious 

 animals, delighting to dwell in society. The female 

 deposits from three hundred to four hundred eggs, 

 and, as soon as these are hatched by the genial rays 

 of the sun, the whole community commence their 

 operations. Their first procedure is very simple : they 

 form a sort of coat of the single leaf upon which they 



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