H INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



on the silk a fluid containing okalate of lime, whic 

 hardens and gives the chalky appearance. Th 

 caterpillars of the Tussock Moth family, whic 

 includes the Gold-tail, the Gipsy, and the Vapourer 

 also mix hairs with the silk, but the cocoons are les 

 substantial than those of the Eggers ; and in th 

 Tiger Moths they are still more flimsy, the chrysali 

 in some cases being plainly visible through them. 



The butterfly-like moth Castnia eudesmia, o 

 Chili, comes from a caterpillar that is still mor 

 sparing in its use of silk. Though its cocoon i 

 five inches long, it is composed mainly of twigs 

 leaves, and other vegetable matter merely bounc 

 together with silken threads. In this respect i 

 comes close to our Goat Moth (Trypanus cornus) 

 whose huge and strong-smelling caterpillar, afte 

 several years spent in the interior of trees, wander 

 out and constructs a cocoon which is largely mad< 

 of rotten wood fragments held together by silk. 



The two little moths known as the Festoon 

 (Limacodes testudo) and the Triangle (Heterogena 

 asella) issue from roundish cocoons attached to 

 leaves and twigs of oak, that look more like vegetabl< 

 galls than silken structures. The cocoon is fur- 

 nished with a distinct hinged lid which opens on 

 the pressure of the emerging moth. The related 

 American species, Lagoa opercularis, constructs a 

 similar cocoon. 



In the familiar Burnet Moths (Zyg&na) the silk 

 is so closely woven and varnished with liquid silk 

 that the long spindle-shaped cocoons are parch- 



