290 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



when quite dry. Externally it is surrounded by a loose layer 

 of silken threads, by means of which it is attached to the plant 

 on which it hangs ; but the cocoon itself is smooth, very much 

 the colour of half-charred paper, and in spite of its brittleness is 

 possessed of some elasticity. 



The manner in which the insect packs itself in so narrow a 

 cell is most ingenious, and a cocoon may weU be sacrificed in 

 order to show the method by which this feat is achieved. Tf a 

 cocoon be opened longitudinally, the chrysalis will be seen to fill 

 the whole of the interior. On examining it more closely, the 

 cast skin is seen to envelop the whole abdomen of the pupa, 

 being pushed down in folds so as to fit closely round the pointed 

 abdomen, and to occupy as little space as possible. 



When the moth escapes from the eocoon, it breaks away quite 

 a large hole at the end next the head, and slips out of the 

 chrysalis shell with great ease, by lifting up a large flap which 

 covers the legs and the head, and which gives way at the Hne of 

 demarcatioB which separates it from the wings. In consequence 

 of this arrangement, the pupa shell and the cast caterpillar skin 

 remain in exactly the same position, and by means of a little 

 ingenuity the raised flap can be replaced and &6tened so as to 

 give no indications that the insect has ever broken it These 

 cocoons are far more conspicuous than those of the Drinker 

 moth, and are attached rather lightly to the stems of various 

 plants. 



There is a smaller insect, popularly called the Little Egger 

 Moth {Eriogaster lanestris), which spins a cocoon of a similar 

 structure, except that the walls are of even harder and more 

 uniform texture, scarcely larger than a wren's egg, and of a 

 substance which looks almost as if it were made of the same 

 material as the egg. When broken, it is found to be even more 

 brittle than that of the lai-ger insect. Owing, in all probability, to 

 the exceeding closeness of the structure, which would exclude 

 air from the inhabitant, it is perforated with one or two very 

 tiny and very circular holes, which look just as if some one had 

 been trying to kill tlie insect by piercing the cocoon with a fine 

 needle or pin. 



Even from the outside these perforations are visible, but they 

 are much more evident when the cocoon is opened. The object 

 of these holes is, however, conjectural, and it would be a useful 



