Wonderful Little Artists. 89 



them, and find that they feel like a part of the tree. 

 Is it some wonderful exudation, then, as resin from the 

 fir ? No ; these are the eggs of the lackey moth, 

 which shows its skill in arrangement, and its wonderful 

 farsightedness. It attaches these pseudo-pearls one by 

 one to the twig, as it produces them by means of a 

 powerful gum it secretes ; and when it has finished its 

 work it runs this same gum in between the rows, so 

 that they are at once safe against the frosts of winter 

 and the efforts of enemies. You try to pull them off. 

 Well, no ; you cannot do it. The name often given to 

 them by country folk is " bracelets." Wonderful little 

 artist the lackey moth ! And the vapourer moth does 

 the same, though not so artistically. 



And yet this is no more wonderful than the craft of 

 some other moths in covering their eggs with down or 

 hair stripped from their own bodies. Some, before 

 they lay their eggs, make thus a fine felting of hair on 

 which to lay them, and then they construct the neatest 

 little thatch roof of hairs to cover them. And notice 

 this, that in laying the felt which is to be under the 

 eggs, they turn about the hairs anyhow, but for the 

 roof the hairs are arranged exactly like straw in a 

 thatch, so that all water may run off. And all this we 

 slump under the name of instinct ! 



Squirrels work their way across my wood, and dodge 

 and show their acuteness in finding the trees where the 

 bark is most of a colour with their fur. If you follow 

 them too persistently for their liking, they will at last 

 look down and squeak defiance at you in the shrillest 

 key, like,that of a magnified mouse-squeak. Moles are 

 active at parts too, and amid the tufted grass in the 

 opener spaces, one sometimes almost stumbles over 

 their heaps. How is it that the mole, whatever the 



