160 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



cell may not appear very difficult; — nor woald it 

 be so if the caterpillars had fingers, cr anv parts 

 which were equivalent to those delicate and admirable 

 natural instruments with which man accomplishes his 

 most elaborate works. And yet the human finsfers 

 could not roll a rocket-case of paper more regularlv 

 than the caterpillar rolls his house of leaves. A leaf 

 is not a very easv substance to roU. In some trees 

 it is very brittle. It has also a natural elasticitv, — 

 a disposition to spring back if it be bent, — which is 

 caused by the continuity of its threads, or nervures 

 This elasticity is speedily overcome by the ingenuity 

 with which the caterpillar works; and the leaf is 

 thus retained in its artificial position for manv weeks, 

 under everv varietv of temperature. We will examine, 

 in detail, how these httle leaf-rollers accomplish their 

 task. 



One of the most common as well as the most 

 simple fabrics constructed by caterpillars, may be dis- 

 covered during summer on almost everv kind of 

 bush and tree. We shall take as examples those 

 which are found on the hlac, and on the oak. 



A small but ver}- pretty chocolate coloured moth, 



A 



Lilac tree Moth. (Lazotania Rtheana, Stophens ?J 



abundant in ever}- garden, but not readily seen from 

 its frequently alightmg on the ground which is so 

 nearly of its own colour, deposits its eggs on the 

 leaves of the lilac, and of some other trees, appro- 

 priating a leaf to each egg. As soon as the cater- 

 pillar is hatched, it begins to secure itself from birds 

 and predatory insects by rolhng up the lilac leaf into 



