JANUARY. 13 



They make their cocoons in the holes of the wall, 

 weaving a web over the hole, then they bite off bits of 

 stone, brick, mortar or moss, and fix it to the webbing, 

 so that it is difficult to find them out in such places, 

 as the cocoon so nearly resembles the wall, brick or 

 mortar to which it joins. They are found in the winter 

 months, and when the weather is mild they bite a hole 

 through their cocoons and come out to feed ; then they 

 return back to their cells and put out their excrements, 

 then they close up the hole, which makes it complete. 

 They do not travel more than four or five inches, or at 

 most a foot from the cell, as they find food close at 

 hand. They generally return to the cell which they 

 had occupied before, but when several of them are 

 feeding near together, they sometimes go into the 

 wrong ones, and some of them cannot find their own 

 cells and are obliged to wander about till they can find 

 a place to build a new one. They feed in the morning 

 and return to their cells about nine or ten o'clock, which 

 I have witnessed many times. This morning, Thurs- 

 day, 5th February, 1852, I saw a great many of them 

 feeding upon a brick wall, and I saw three of them go 

 back to their own cells and eject their excrement ; then 

 they closed up the entrance as neat as though it had 

 never been opened. In cold weather they remain in 

 their cocoons three or four days, and in very sharp 

 weather as many as nine or ten days or even more, 

 without food ; but as soon as the weather becomes 

 mild they feel the change, and break through the cell 

 and feed as fresh as ever. I put one in the wall in a 

 small cavity, and put a piece of glass over it to see 

 how it would begin its cell, and I saw it carry several 



