STONE-MASON CATERPILLARS. 



227 



actly in the same manner as those which we have 

 described, mining first between the two membranes 

 of the leaf, and then uniting these and cutting out 

 his tent. But the tent itself looks singular from being 

 all over studded with the stinging bristles of the 

 nettle, and forming a no less formidable coat of mail 

 to the little inhabitant, than the spiny hide of the 

 hedgehog. In feeding, it does not seem to have' 

 mined into the leaf, but to have eaten the whole of 

 the lower membrane, along with the entire pulp, 

 leaving nothing but the upper membrane untouched.* 



Tents of Stone-mason Caterpillars. 



The caterpillar of a small moth ( Tinea) which feeds 

 upon the lichens growing on walls, builds for itself a 

 moveable tent of a very singular kind. JM. de la Voye 

 was the first who described these insects ; but though 

 they are frequently overlooked, from being very small, 

 they are by no means uncommon on old walls. 

 Reaumur observed them regularly for twenty years 

 together, on the terrace-wall of the Tuileries at Paris; 

 and they may be found in abundance in similar situ- 

 ations in this country. This accurate observer refuted 

 by experiment the notion of M. de la Voye, that the 

 caterpillars fed upon the stones of the wall: but he 

 satisfied himself that they detached particles of the 

 stone for the purpose of building their tents or sheaths 

 (fourreaux), as he calls their dwellings. In order 

 to watch their mode of building, Reaumur gently 

 ejected half a dozen of them from their homes, and 

 observed them detach grain after grain from a piece 

 of stone, binding each into the wall of their building 

 with silk, till the cell acquii-ed the requisite magnitude, 

 the whole operation taking about twenty-four hours 

 of continued labour. M. de la Voye mentions small 



* J. R. 



