STATES OF INSECTS. 207 



leaves or twigs under which they propose to conceal them- 

 selves during their existence in that state. Others previ- 

 ously suspend themselves by a silken thread fixed to the 

 tail, or passing round the body ; by which also, when become 

 pupae, they are afterwards pendent in a similar position ; 

 and lastly, a very great number of larvae wholly inclose 

 themselves in cases or cocoons, composed of silk and va- 

 rious other materials, by which during their state of re- 

 pose they are protected both from their enemies and the 

 action of the atmosphere. As these two last-mentioned 

 processes are extremely curious and interesting, I shall 

 not fear tiring you by entering into some further detail 

 respecting them : ex-plsdning first the mode by which lar- 

 vae suspend themselves, both before and after they are 

 become pupae, by silken threads ; and next, the various 

 cases or cocoons in which others inclose themselves, and 

 their manner of operating in the formation of them. 



1 . The larvae which suspend themselves and their pu- 

 pae, with the exception of the tribe of Alucitce, and some 

 Geometrce of the family of G. pendidaria, punctaria, &c. 

 are almost all butterflies a . No others follow this mode. 

 They may be divided into two great classes — those which 

 suspend themselves perpendicularly by the tail, and those 

 which suspend themselves horizontally by means of a 



a Except some species of Potyommatus Latr. (Thecla, ArgynnisF '.), 

 P. Argiolus, Cory don, &c, and Hesperia Rubi, Betuice F., &c. Some 

 of the larvae of the former become pupae within the stalk of some 

 plant, or partly under the earth : those of the latter usually in a leaf 

 to which the abdomen is fastened by various threads. These last 

 are the rouleuses of the butterfly-tribe, living, like some moths, in 

 leaves that they have rolled up. N. Diet. d'Hisi. Nat. xxiv. 499. 



