34 AGLOSSA PINGIUINAL1S. 



of mortar, like those from the Exeter canal stable, or, 

 indeed, of paper, as I found many years since, when a 

 cocoon was spun in a box of that material. 



There only now remains for me to state that on two 

 or three occasions, when I had a larva out before me 

 to examine, I did not neglect to test the grease theory, 

 by leaving butter and lard with it under a large glass ; 

 but in every case it seemed carefully to shun both, and 

 though I contrived once that it should at least walk 

 over some lard, it did so nimbly enough, but could not 

 be induced to walk over it a second time, invariably 

 swerving aside. As a final experiment, I turned a 

 large but still feeding larva out from its dwelling into 

 a pot containing three pieces of cloth, one piece 

 lightly saturated with salad oil, the second bearing a 

 lump of fresh butter, and the third a lump of lard, 

 and tied over the pot a cover of calico. On being 

 placed therein, the larva soon came in contact with a 

 piece of cloth, and stopped, as though afraid to ad- 

 vance any further ; but on my looking the next day I 

 could only see the tail of the larva protruding from 

 beneath the lard-bearing cloth, and on my touching it 

 with a soft brush very gently it instantly sprang for- 

 ward, concealing itself entirely under the cloth ; on 

 the third day it was close by the same piece of cloth, 

 but not under it, and on touching it I found it dead, 

 hard to the touch and rather swollen ; neither butter, 

 lard, nor cloth had, on examination, been nibbled at 

 all, though there were traces of the larva having 

 crawled all over most of the bottom of the pot; 

 neither fat, therefore, nor greasy cloth offered any 

 attraction in the way of food, nor did the larva seem 

 proof against the usual harm which contact with oil 

 or grease causes to insect life; but, on the other 

 hand, I confess I never saw a larva actually eating 

 any of the rubbish, on which I believe it must have 

 fed; I found, whenever I turned a larva out of its 

 abode and supplied it with fresh materials to feed on, 

 it immediately began to unite some of the particles 



