NATURAL HISTORY. 35 



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man, which I have heard called the cloak- 

 maker, because' it makes for itself a mantle 



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which really appears very much like a cloak ; 

 and, stranger still, this cloak is lined through- 

 out with silk." 



" Can it be possible, Uncle Philip ?" 

 " Listen, and you shall hear. These man- 

 tle-looking cases are made by the larva, as it 

 is called, or grub of a little moth which forms 

 a covering of pure silk ; this silk it spins 

 from itself; it is not woven so as to appear 

 like our silk, but still it is real silk, and 

 is worked into a great many thin scales, 

 which lap over one another like the scales 



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of a fish. But this is only the lining of 

 the cloak. This little tailor is the field-moth, 

 which first eats what , it wants from a green 

 leaf, and then, from the thin membranes left, 

 sets about making its mantle : and it makes 

 it of two pieces out out and joined together 

 with a seam, just as a tailor would make it." 

 "How does it go to work, Uncle Philip?" 

 " Why, I will give you the account as it 

 was given by a gentleman* who was very fond 

 of observing insects, and who watched one of 

 these little creatures. He says that from the 



* Reaumur. 



