94 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



similar spiders' nests attached to the stems of grass;* 

 and we once found a large one of an elongated shape, 

 and composed of very white silk, on a sp.ke of grass 

 at Compton-Basset; Wiltshire.! 



Spiders' nests. 



The vapourer ( Orgyia antiqua, Ochsenh.), a com- 

 mon moth, takes advantage of the warm silken enve- 

 lope of the pupa-case, from which she has escaped a 

 few days before, to form a bed for her eggs. In our 

 earlier studies of insect economy we were inclined to 

 ascribe to accident the deposition of the eggs in this 

 particular situation, but we have found so many in- 

 stances of it as to reject the explanation. Swammer- 

 dam also observes, that ' this custom of fastening 

 the eggs to the web in a constant method, and 

 by the immutable law of nature, is so peculiar to 

 this species of insects, that I have never obser- 

 ved it in any other kind whatsoever. This fe- 

 male,' he subjoins, ' like a most prudent house- 

 wife, never leaves her habitation, but is always 

 fixing her eggs to the surface of the web out of 

 which she has hei-self crept, thus affording a beau- 

 tiful instance of industrious housewifery. 'J One 



De Geer, Mem., vol. vii, pp. 227 — 9. 

 ^ Swammerdam, pt ii, page 7. 



t J. R. 



