THE SMALL ERMINE MOTH. SI 
was brought from Tropical Africa by Vernon Wollaston, 
Esq., and is so remarkable as to deserve a detailed de- 
scription. 
In length it measures eight inches, and in width five 
and a half inches, its depth being about three inches. 
The aspect of the exterior gives but little promise of the 
exceeding strength of the structure, which is as hard and 
elastic as the side of a silk hat, rebounding when pressed 
in precisely the same manner. When cut, this covering 
is seen to be double, the outer case being very thin, and 
formed of orange-brown silken threads, and the inner 
being made of many successive layers of dark brown silk, 
so that it looks very like undressed leather. 
The most extraordinary part of the nest, however, is the 
provision which is made for the exit of the inmates. Set 
upon different parts of the nest are thirteen or fourteen 
little conical protuberances, which do not project very far 
from the general surface, and are quite inconspicuous. On 
examination, these prominences are seen to be composed 
of stiff silken threads, which converge to a point, pre- 
cisely like those which guard the entrance of the emperor 
moth’s cocoon, so that any inhabitant can crawl out, but 
no enemy can crawl in. 
This nest, like the preceding, may be seen in the 
Museum at Oxford. 
There is a very pretty, very interesting, and very de- 
structive insect, called by entomologists the SMaLL ERMINE 
Mors, which is very plentiful in this country, and by 
gardeners is thought to be much too plentiful. It can 
easily be recognised by its long narrow wings, the upper 
pair of which are soft silvery, or satiny white, spotted with 
black, and the lower pair dark brown. The expanse of 
the spread wings is about three-quarters of an inch. 
