532 



HABITATIONS OF SPIDERS AND INSECTS. 



materials resembling the soil around ; and so little does it 

 differ from this, as to be with difficulty distinguished, even 



by a person seeking to discover 

 the Spider's habitation. If an 

 attempt is made to lift it, when 

 the animal is within its excava- 

 tion, the movement is resisted 

 >S?& by the whole force of the Spider, 

 ich holds down the door, by 



^^^^liirP^^^'Sc*^ fixing its claws into small holes 

 on its under surface at the 

 point most distant from the hinge, 

 r-*p*r where its force may be most ad- 

 *s2a^. vantageously applied. 



Fig. 271. NEST OF MYGALE. 701 ' Am n S IllSects > We find 



a great number of very curious 



processes instinctively performed in the construction of 

 their habitations. Many Caterpillars form for themselves a 

 protection, by rolling together portions of leaves, and attach- 

 ing these by threads. In almost every garden, we may 

 observe (at the proper season) nests of this kind, on the 

 leaves of the Lilac or Gooseberry ; and a similar one, repre- 

 sented in fig. 272, is constructed in the leaves of the oak, by 

 the caterpillar of a small nocturnal Butterfly, the Tortrix viri- 

 dissima. The Larva of the little Clothes-moth, again, forms a 

 sort of tubular sheath, composed of the filaments it detaches 



from the stuff through which 

 it excavates its galleries ; this 

 sheath it is continually prolong- 

 ing at one extremity ; and 

 when, in consequence of the 

 growth of the larva, its tube 

 becomes too small for its com- 

 fortable residence, it slits it 

 down and lets-in a piece. The 

 aquatic Larvae of the Caddice- 

 flies (fig. 273, c), which are 

 commonly known as Caddice- 

 worms, house themselves in straws, pieces of hollow stick, 

 rushes, &c. ; and those of some species glue together a 

 number of minute stones, pieces of stick, small shells, &c., 



Fig. 272. NiiST OF TORTRIX. 



