HOUSK-BTJILDEE MOTH. 283 



of ingenuity in suspending its cocoon. This is the insect called 

 Saturnia Promethea, ■which lives in the sassafras-tree. The 

 cocoon is placed within the leaf of the tree and secured by a 

 strong web ; but as the leaf would fall before the moth could 

 escape, a strange instinct is implanted in the insect, which 

 fastens the stem of the leaf to the branch by sundry silken 

 threads, so that although it may wither and part from the branch 

 it cannot fall to the ground. 



We now pass to the second insect represented in the illustra- 

 tion. This is the Hotjse-buildee Moth {Oiketicvs SandersH), an 

 insect which is common in many paila of the West Indies, in 

 several places being so plentiful that the sight of its long pen- 

 dent domiciles is anything but pleasant to the proprietor of a 

 garden. 



Out of five species of insects belonging to this singular genus, 

 the present has been selected, because on the whole its habita- 

 tion is more reiaarkable than that of any other species. Some 

 of them make their nest in a much stiffer form than is depicted 

 in the engraving, taking pieces of slender twigs and forming 

 them into hollow cylinders, the twigs being laid parallel to each 

 other, very much like the rods in the old Eoman fasces, which 

 were borne by the lictors before the consuls. So close indeed is 

 the resemblance, that by some writers the insects have been 

 called Lictor Moths. 



The reader vsdll observe that in the illustration the nest is 

 shown as depending from the caterpillar, part of which pro- 

 trudes from its mouth and the other part is hidden. This 

 attitude is given because it is that in which the insect is 

 generally seen. While yo.ung the caterpillar is so strong, and 

 the house is so light, that it can carry the tail nearly upright. 



Scraps of wood mixed with fragments of leaves are the 

 materials which are used, and they are bound together very 

 firmly by the silken threads with which so many caterpillars are 

 endowed, whether they belong to the butterflies or moths. There 

 is a tolerable degree of elasticity about it, especially at the 

 mouth, which is slightly expanded so as to assume an irregular 

 funnel-like shape, and can be drawn together at will by means 

 of the silken threads attached to its circumference. The cater- 

 pillar has thus two means of guarding itself from attacks If it 



