392 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



the abdomen being in ordinary proportion to the thorax and 

 head. But, when she has been fairly installed in her office 

 her abdomen begins to enlarge, until it becomes so enormous 

 that she is totally unable to move, and therefore, her enforced 

 prison is so far from being a hardship, that it is a necessary 

 protection for her huge and soft body, which is several hundred 

 times larger than that of her mate. Large indeed she must be, 

 as she is calculated to produce, on the average, rather more 

 than thirty million eggs. 



Figs. 3, 3 show the appearance of the royal cell when split 

 open longitudinally, the recess which contains the queen being 

 seen nearly in the centre. All the drawings are taken from 

 specimens in the British Museum, and in the cell which is 

 here figured, the outline of the queen is quite perceptible, having 

 been impressed on the interior of the cell. The mode by which 

 it is enlarged is also shown, a further enlargement having been 

 begun, but cut short by the demolition of the nest. The cells 

 vary very much in size, probably in accordance with the 

 dimensions of the enclosed queen. I have seen them as large 

 as cocoa-nuts, and of an extraordinary weight, the greater por 

 tion of the mass being solid clay. 



There are many insects whose habitations are peculiarly 

 annoying to mankind, and yet are extremely interesting to those 

 who take an interest in the workings of instinct. Chief among 

 these insects is the well-known Clothes Moth. There are 

 several allied species which popularly go by this name, but the 

 most plentiful is that which bears the scientific title of Tinea 

 vestianella. These destructive little creatures are proverbially 

 injurious to clothes, especially if the garments be made of wool 

 or furs, vegetable fabrics being not to their taste. Some species 

 affect dried insects, and are in consequence extremely hateful 

 to the entomologist ; while their ravages on furs and feathers, 

 and even on leather itself, render them the dread of those 

 who, like myself, possess collections of natural history or 

 ethnology. 



In their wins^ed state, the moths" themselves do no direct 



