STATES OF INSECTS. 227 



ticed by De Geer (Formica fusca L.), some of the indi- 

 viduals of which inclose themselves in cocoons; while 

 others neglect this precaution, and undergo their meta- 

 morphosis uncovered a . Rbsel also made nearly the 

 same observation on the larva of the flea b . 



I must say something with regard to the situation, 

 often very remote from their place of feeding, in which 

 larvae fabricate their cocoons. A very considerable num- 

 ber, probably the majority, form them either partially 

 (Arctia lubricipeda) or wholly under ground; others 

 beneath dead leaves, moss, or in the chinks of the trees ; 

 others within the wood in substances on which they 

 have fed ; the larva of Cossus leaves in these a communi- 

 cation with the open air by which the imago emerges ; 

 and a large number attach them to the leaves and 

 branches of trees and plants ; the cocoon of Donatio fas- 

 ciata (?) is fastened by one side to the roots or surculi of 

 Typha latifolia. There is usually nothing very remark- 

 able in the mode of fixing them, the exterior threads 

 being merely gummed irregularly to different portions of 

 the objects which support them. But some effect this with 

 greater art. I have one from New Holland, very long, 

 which is suspended from a twig by a long riband, as it 

 were, which entirely girths the twig. The larva of the 

 magnificent silk-moth, Attacus Paphia, actually forms a 

 solid silken stalk to its cocoon, an inch and half in length 



a De Geer ii. 1084. Comp. Ray Hist. Ins. Praef. xi. It is the opi- 

 nion of M. P. Huber, that in this case the naked pupa? are deprived 

 of their cocoons by the neuters : he states, indeed, that he has often 

 seen them pulled off by them, and also by those of F. cunicularia j 

 and he seems to think that these larvae are never developed. Mceurs 

 des Fourmis, 84. note 1. 



b II. viii. 16. 



o 2 



