The Cocoon 299 



My experiments in indoor breeding have 

 enabled me to observe every detail of the con- 

 struction of this architectural curiosity, a regular 

 strong-box inside which the inclemencies of the 

 weather can be braved in safety. The larva 

 first pushes away the remains of its food and 

 forces them into a corner of the cell or compart- 

 ment which I have arranged for it in a box with 

 paper partitions. Having swept the floor, it 

 fixes at the different walls of its dwelling threads 

 of a beautiful white silk, forming a spidery web 

 which keeps off the cumbrous heap of broken 

 victuals and serves as a scaffolding for the next 

 work. 



This work consists of a hammock slung far 

 from any dirt, in the centre of the threads 

 stretched from wall to wall. Nothing but silk, 

 magnificently fine, white silk, enters into its 

 composition. Its shape is that of a sack open 

 at one end with a wide circular mouth, closed at 

 the other and ending in a point. An eel-trap 

 would give a very fair picture of it. The edges 

 of the mouth are kept apart and permanently 

 stretched by numerous threads starting from 

 there and fastened to the adjoining walls. Lastly, 

 the texture of this sack is extremely fine and 

 allows us to see all the grub's proceedings. 



Things had been in this condition since the 

 day before, when I heard the larva scratching 



