THE HEDGEHOG NEST. 377 



pupal states, she seems to return to her former condition, and 

 would be taken by any ordinary observer for a caterpillar of 

 more than ordinary fatness. She has no wings, and no legs to 

 speak of, these members being needless in a creature that never 

 changes her position. It is rather curious that the males should 

 ever be able to find their spouses, but they are probably led by 

 an instinct which we cannot comprehend, as is the case with 

 several of the larger British moths. 



The male is a rather small though stoutly made insect, and 

 is not at all attractive in colour, being simple brown, with a few 

 black markings on the wings. The antennae, however, are very 

 beautiful, being doubly feathered, like those of the Housebuilder 

 Moth, to which the insect is closely allied, the feathering being 

 widest at the base, and narrowing gradually to the tip. The 

 whole of the body is clothed with long, dense, and soft hair, 

 of a pale brown, and having a silken lustre. These beaudful 

 nests were brought to the Museum by E. H. Armitage, Esq., 

 who kindly presented me with the specimens which have been 

 described. 



A SOMEWHAT similar nest, but of a much more formidable 

 aspect, was discovered by W. B. Lord, Esq., R.A., and has been 

 figured in the Boys' Own Magazine for August, 1864. The shape 

 of the nest is very remarkable, and is exactly that of a soda- 

 water bottle, suspended by its neck. A very tolerable imitation 

 of this curious nest could be made by coating a soda-water 

 bottle with clay, and sUcking it full of porcupine quills, with 

 the points radiating on every side. The following is Mr. Lord's 

 own description : — 



* On looking closely at the thorny, sinuous branches, we sliall 

 see a number of little pendent prickly things, each hanging to 

 its own silken cord, like juvenile hedgehogs "lynched" by the 

 fairies of the spring. 



* These are a peculiar species of " tree-caddis," which, as far 

 as I know, are as yet undescribed by anyone. Their cases are 

 curiously armed with thorns, nipped from the tree on which 

 they hang. The thorns are all disposed with their points out- 



