298 HOMES ■WITHOUT HAHDS. 



leaf in its' place, we have an excellent example of acciimnlated 

 power ; neither of the threads being alone capable of enduring 

 the tension, but their united strength being more than suf&cient 

 for the task 



As soon as the caterpillar has entered its new home, it begins 

 to feed, eating the green substance of the leaf, and generally 

 leaving the nervures untouched. Sometimes the caterpillar lives 

 for so short a time that a single leaf is suf&cient for its sub- 

 sistence ; but there are some species which are obliged to repeat 

 the task more than once. 



These are other insects which also make their habitations in 

 leaves ; but, instead of rolling up the leaf and living inside the 

 cylinder, they make their way between the two membranes, and 

 there remain until they have undergone their transformation. 



The reader must often have seen the leaves of garden plants 

 and trees, especially those of the rose, traversed by pale winding 

 marks, that look something like the rivers upon a map, and 

 having mostly a narrow dark line running exactly along the 

 middle. These curious marks are the tracks which are made 

 by the various leaf-mining insects, while eating their way 

 through the leaf in which they pass their larval state. In most 

 cases, when the insect has completed its term of larval existence, 

 one end of the track is found to be greatly widened, and to 

 contain either the pupa itself or its empty case. 



The track differs considerably in shape, according to the insect 

 which makes it Sometimes it winds about in the middle of the 

 leaf, crossing itself more than once in its progress. Sometimes 

 it proceeds in a nearly straight line across the leaf, and very fre- 

 quently, especially in deeply-cut leaves, it follows the outline, 

 keeping to the edge, and not trenching at all on the central 

 portions. 



Insects belonging to three orders are known to make these 

 curious habitations; namely, the Lepidoptera, the Coleoptera, 

 and the Diptera. Of these, the Lepidoptera are by far the most 

 numerous, and belong to that group which is called, on account 

 of their very minute dimensions, the Micro-Lepidoptera. These 

 gre all little moths, so small that on the wing they can scarcely 

 be recognised as moths, and look more like little flies. They are 

 all very beautiful, and many of the species are truly magnificent 



