310 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



mid-air. The glossy threads with which it is knitted are stout, 

 and the structure is therefore not liable to be torn by the beaks 

 of insectivorous birds, while its pendulous position makes it 

 doubly secure against their attacks, the apparatus giving way 

 when they peck at it. There is a small orifice at each end of the 

 egg-shaped bag, to admit of the escape of the moth when it 

 changes from the little chrysalis which sleeps tranquilly in its 

 airy cage. The moth is of a dull slaty color, and belongs to the 

 Lithosiidae group of the silkworm family (Bombycidce). 



" When the caterpillar begins its work, it lets itself down from 

 the tip of the leaf which it has chosen by spinning a thread of 

 silk, the thickness of which it slowly increases as it descends. 

 Having given the proper length to the cord, it proceeds to weave 

 its elegant bag, placing itself in the centre, and spinning rings of 

 silk at regular intervals, connecting them at the same time by 

 means of the loose thread ; so that the whole, when finished, 

 forms a loose web, with quadrangular meshes of nearly equal size 

 throughout. The task occupies about four days : when finished, 

 the inclosed caterpillar becomes sluggish, its skin shrivels and 

 cracks, and there then remains a motionless chrysalis of narrow 

 shape, leaning against the sides of its silken cage." 



Some other lepidopterous insects suspend themselves by single 

 threads, but most of them make their habitations of leaves, so 

 that, when suspended, they do not attract much attention, look- 

 ing like chance leaves that have fallen from the branches and 

 caught in a stray piece of spider's web. Sometimes these nests 

 are made from single leaves, the edges of which are drawn to- 

 gether by the silken threads spun by the caterpillar that takes 

 refuge within, and sometimes they are made from several leaves, 

 which are fastened to each other by similar threads. Some of 

 these pensile nests are inhabited by a number of caterpillars, 

 which live together in perfect harmony. Some nests are not un- 

 common in tropical countries, and one or two of them will be 

 described in the chapter on Social Insects. One traveler de- 

 scribes some of these nests by comparing them to the white paper 

 bags in which grapes are tied, when ripe, in order to preserve 

 them from wasps and other marauders. 



He also mentions that the interior contained a quantity of 

 green leaves, which afforded food to the inhabitants, but does not 

 tell us whether the leaves were actually growing on the tree and 



