368 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



alarm nor uneasiness, but passed over the backs of one another 

 as if they had made only a portion of the branch. 



* In none of their operations did they seem to be subject lo 

 any discipline, each individual appearing to work in perfecting 

 the structure from individual instinct, in the same manner as 

 was remarked by M. Huber in the case of the hive bees. In 

 making such experiments, it is obvious that the species of cater- 

 pillars experimented with must feed upon the same sort ol 

 plant/ 



One remark ought to be made on this interesting narrative. 

 The author lays some stress on the fact that the two insects 

 belonged not only to different species, but to different genera. 

 It must, however, be remembered that although the distinction 

 of insects into species is easy enough, their grouping into genera 

 is quite arbitrary, depending entirely on the classifier. Linnaeus, 

 for example, divided all the butterflies into two genera, while 

 the modern classification admits somQ thirty genera. While, 

 therefore, we may lay every stress on the species, we need not 

 trouble ourselves much about the genus. 



The two moths mentioned in this history are very different 

 in appearance, and the larvae are still more unlike. They have, 

 however, this point of similarity, that they construct large 

 dwellings upon branches, spinning them of silk, and making 

 them large enough to contain a whole brood at once. The 

 Lackey moths are so called on account of the bright colours of 

 the caterpillars, which are striped and decorated like modern 

 footmen. Some species, however, derive the name from a 

 different source. 



When the mother insect lays her eggs, she deposits them on 

 a small branch or twig, disposing them in a ring that completely 

 encircles the twig, as a bracelet surrounds a lady's wrist. When 

 she has completed the circle, she covers the eggs with a kind 

 of varnish, which soon hardens, and forms a perfect defence 

 from the rain. The varnish is so hard, and binds the eggs so 

 firmly together, that, if the twig be carefully severed, the whole 

 mass of eggs can be slipped off entire. As this varnish pro- 

 duces the same effect on eggs as lacquer does upon polished 



