NATUKAL TEAP. 127 



ago. Before human emperors had been invented, 

 and very probably long before mankind had been 

 placed on our earth, the caterpillar of the emperor 

 moth wove its wondrous cell, and thereby became a 

 silent teacher to the cunning race of mankind how 

 to make mouse-traps and lobster-pots. 



For inside the rough outer case, which is com- 

 posed of silken threads, woven almost at random, 

 and very delicate, is a lesser case, corresponding in 

 shape with its covering, but made of stiff threads 

 laid nearly parallel to each other, their points con- 

 verging at the small end of the case. See the cut 

 on p. 125. 



It will now be seen that the moth when it leaves 

 its chrysalid case can easily walk out of the cocoon, 

 but that no other creature could enter. So within 

 its trapped case the chrysalis lies secure, until time 

 and warmth bring it to its perfection. It breaks 

 from its pupal shell, walks forward, the threads 

 separate to permit its egress, and then converge 

 again so closely that to all appearance the cocoon is 

 precisely the same as when the moth was within. 



Now, any observant member of the human race, 

 who had been meditating upon traps, and happened 

 in a contemplative mood to open one of these co- 

 coons, would feel a new light break in upon him, 

 and, Archimedes-like, he would exclaim " Eureka," 

 or its equivalent, "I have found my trap!" Re- 

 verse the process, make the converging threads to 



