524 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



such caterpillars are so small that they have almost escaped ob- 

 servation until comparatively late years. 



How small these insects are may be imagined from the fact that 

 many species of the Micro-lepidoptera, as they are fitly named, do 

 not occupy, even with their wings spread, a space larger than is 

 taken up by the capital letter at the beginning of this sentence. 

 To "set" these tiny creatures is necessarily an extremely difficult 

 task, and can not be accomplished by the ordinary plan of run- 

 ning a pin through the thorax, and extending the wings on the 

 "setting-board." The only method of displaying them is to set 

 them on white cardboard by means of gum, which is strengthened 

 by many entomologists with various substances. A sheet of 

 cardboard covered with specimens of Micro-lepidoptera neatly set 

 is a very pretty sight, but needs the aid of the microscope before 

 it can be perfectly seen. 



Even to the unaided eye, the tiny moths are seen to be beauti- 

 fully decorated, their wings gleaming in favorable lights like the 

 throat of the humming-bird. But when placed under the micro- 

 scope, especially if it be furnished with a binocular tube, and illu- 

 minated by a suitable light, the wings are positively dazzling in 

 their brightness, and hues that formerly seemed to be but dun 

 and bronze or brown, suddenly flash out into gold and emerald, 

 each scale distinct and shining as if of burnished metal. 



Sometimes, when opening the extremity of the leafy tunnel, we 

 find a tiny chrysalis lying in the little chamber, and awaiting the 

 time for the shell to burst and the perfect insect to emerge. 

 Later in the year we shall find neither larva nor pupa, but shall 

 see a little hole in the leafy chamber, from which issues the shat- 

 tered end of an empty chrysalis shell, showing that the moth has 

 made its escape into the outer air. 



Two examples of other mined leaves may be seen upon the 

 illustration, both drawn from the actual object. The specimen in 

 the right-hand upper corner was taken from the bramble, and has 

 been mined by the larva of a little moth called Nepticula anomella. 

 It is a very pretty little creature, though its hues are not brilliant 

 without the aid of the microscope. The upper wings are brown, 

 but their tips are beautifully colored with bright chestnut. The 

 lower wings are pale gray, without any of the brilliancy that dis- 

 tinguishes the upper pair. They possess, however, a compensa- 

 ting beauty in the long, feathery fringe with which they are 

 edged, and which, when subjected to the microscope, is seen to 



