PUSS-COCOON. 103 



The fabric is of oval form, composed of pieces of rotten 

 wood and bark, meshed in and kept together by silk and 

 gluten ; the latter renders it so hard, that it refuses to yield 

 under pressure of the finger ; we might perhaps force it, though 

 not without trouble, by aid of stick or knife ; but let us spare 

 it, leaving its ingenious builder and occupant to finish, unmo- 

 lested, his winter's nap, to sleep on till the merry month of 

 May ; and then, forcing his wooden walls by help, it is said, 

 of an expressly provided acid, to expand his pencilled pinions 

 on the evening air. 



But it might please you, curious companions of our ramble, 

 to see for yourselves, the pattern of those pretty pinions; 

 and so in due time you shall, for we have at home almost a 

 fac-simile of this wood-built cell, constructed under our own 

 e J e by a brother artisan, a "Puss" Caterpillar, which as a 

 chrysalis, now lives within it. "When, as a young May Moth, 

 it pleases to emerge, we promise you its picture, both in that, 

 its palmy state, as well as in its earlier capacity of ingenious 

 builder. This " Puss" chrysalis has afforded a specimen of nu- 

 merous others of the tribe of Moths, now lying thus entombed 

 and enshrouded, though in divers manners ; but besides these, 

 there are some belonging to the race of Butterflies, which may 

 now be much more easily detected, as they hang, both 

 shroudless and tombless, betwixt earth and sky. Yonder is 

 the wall of a kitchen garden, let us cross the road to it, and 

 we shall be sure, almost, to find an instance of what we speak 



