The Larva and tJie Nymph 97 



their work as weavers and had not yet begun 

 to apply their lacquer. At that period I saw 

 no trace of violet fluid in the silk-glands. This 

 shade is found only in the digestive canal, 

 which bulges with a purple-coloured pulp ; we 

 find it also, but later, in the stercoral plug 

 relegated to the lower end of the cocoon. With 

 this exception, everything is white, or faintly 

 tinged with yellow. Far be it from me to 

 suggest that the larva plasters its cocoon with 

 its excreta ; and yet I am convinced that this 

 plaster is a product of the digestive organs and 

 I suspect, though I cannot say for certain — 

 having been clumsy enough several times to 

 miss a favourable opportunity of making sure — 

 that the larva disgorges and applies with its 

 mouth the quintessence of the purple pulp from 

 its stomach in order to form the shellac glaze. 

 Only after this last performance would it reject 

 its digestive residuum in a single lump ; and 

 this would explain the unpleasant necessity 

 in which the larva finds itself of making room 

 for its excreta inside its actual habitation. 



Be this as it may, there can be no doubt 

 about the usefulness of the coating of shellac ; 

 its complete impermeability must protect the 

 larva against the damp which would certainly 

 attack it in the precarious refuge dug for it 

 by the mother. Remember that the larva is 



