136 VAPOUREE MOTH. 



beautifully-coloured hair which are set on its body 

 like camel-hair brushes. 



The caterpillar spins for itself a silken nest where- 

 in to pass its pupa state, and in general there is 

 nothing remarkable about the nest. But I have 

 one in my collection of insect habitations that is 

 very curious. 



I had caught, killed, and pinned out a large 

 dragon-fly, and placed it in a cardboard box for a 

 time. Some days afterwards, a palmer-worm had 

 been captured, and was imprisoned in the same box. 

 I was not aware that such a circumstance had 

 happened, and so did not open the box for a week 

 or two, when I expected to find the dragon-fly quite 

 dry and ready for the cabinet. 



When, however, the box was opened, a curious 

 state of matters was disclosed. The caterpillar had 

 not only spun its cocoon, but had shredded up the 

 dragon-fly's wings, and woven them into the sub- 

 stance of its cell. The glittering particles of the 

 wing have a curious effect as they sparkle among the 

 silver fibres. 



On plate D, fig. 3 a, is represented a creature 

 whose sole claim to admiration is its domestic 

 virtue, for elegance or beauty it has none. It 

 hardly seems possible, but it is the fact, that this 

 clumsy creature is the female Vapourer Moth, the 

 male being represented immediately below fig. 3. 



Why the two sexes should be so entirely different 



