i64 STRANGE DWELLINGS, 



mouths, a peculiarity which would hardly be noticed in a single 

 cell, but which produces the spreading outline when a number 

 of them are massed together. 



Some of the cells, those in the middle for example, are much 

 longer than the others, and in the specimens in the British 

 Museum many of them are closed at the mouth, showing that 

 the insect is within, and has not yet attained its perfect state 

 Those on the circumference, however, are much shorter, and are 

 entirely empty, not having been yet occupied. It is very 

 possible that these cells would have been lengthened had the 

 insects been left to themselves. 



Although the circular shape is mostly the rule with these 

 combs, so that they look something like withered dahlias or 

 chrysanthemums, it is not the invariable form. If the reader 

 will look at the lower figure in the illustration, he will see that 

 it is much wider than long, and is apparently composed of two 

 of the circular combs fixed together. 



Now comes the curious part of the structure. The combs are 

 not fastened directly to the branches, but are attached to foot- 

 stalks which spring from their centre, and are firmly cemented 

 upon the branch or twig. This group of cells is copied from 

 the specimen in the British Museum, but ought to have been 

 reversed, so that the mouths of the cells hang downwards. The 

 observer should notice the wonderful manner in which the 

 balance is preserved, the footstalk occupying as nearly as pos- 

 sible the centre of gravity. 



The footstalks are made of the same papier-m&che like sub- 

 stance as the cells, only the layers are so tightly compressed 

 together that they form a hard, solid mass, very much like the 

 little pillars which support the different stories of an ordinary 

 wasp's nest, but of much greater size. The position of the combs 

 is extremely variable, some being nearly horizontal, and others 

 perpendicular, as shown in the illustration. These nests came 

 from Bareilly in the East Indies. 



We now come to the pensile lepidoptera, of which a number 

 of specimens will be mentioned. They all belong to the moths j 



