CURIOUS NEST. 49 
a most singular state of things was discovered. A great 
number of pupz, evidently those of some butterfly, were 
suspended by their tails to the walls and to the twig which 
runs down the nest. In this nest they were about one 
hundred in number, and they were hung to the whole 
of the upper part of the nest, but without any particular 
order. 
On seeing this nest, an entomologist naturally asks how 
and when the insects made it. -That they did not form 
it of a small size and then add to its dimensions in order 
to suit their growth, is evident from the fact that no trace 
of enlargement can be perceived. It is most probable 
that as in the case of the processionary moth, the cater- 
pillars spin their silken home when they are three parts 
grown, and in consequence have but a short time to spend 
in it before they pass into the quiescent pupal form. 
It is evident that the insects make their escape from 
their pensile home as goon as they have broken out of the 
pupal skin, because the aperture is so small that they 
could not possibly pass through it when their wings were 
thoroughly expanded and dried. Of what form and colour 
these wings might be, was for a long time a mystery. 
Mr. Westwood, who first opened a nest, carefully dis- 
sected some of the pupe, and by cautiously softening the 
withered membranes in warm water, succeeded in spread- 
ing out the wings sufficiently to learn the general form of 
the nervures and the shape of the “cells,” as the spaces 
between the nervures are named. 
Specimens of the perfect insect have now been obtained, 
and are seen to be butterflies closely resembling in shape 
the lovely heliconide, which are so plentiful in Southern 
America, but of very simple colours, the general hue being 
blackish brown diversified by a broad, but indistinctly 
marked, white band across the wings. Examples of the. 
G 
