HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 269 
the genial breath of spring, and begin to feed with greediness upon the 
young leaves that surround their habitation, which, as they soon greatly 
increase in size, they find it necessary to enlarge. One might fear that a 
structure formed of such materials would at this period be sadly damaged 
by the growth of the young shoots and leaves of the twigs which it encloses ; 
put the inhabitants, as if to guard against such an accident, have gnawed 
off all the buds within their dwelling, and thus secured themselves from 
this inconvenience." * 
The nest of the larva of another species of moth, the Cnethocampa pro- 
cessionea, unfortunately not a native of this country, to which, on account 
of their singular manners, that will be detailed to you in a subsequent 
letter, Reaumur has given the title of processionary caterpillars, is some~ 
what different in its construction from that just described, though formed 
of the same material. As the caterpillars which fabricate it feed upon the 
leaves of the oak, it is always found upon this tree, attached not to the 
branches but the trunk, sometimes at a considerable height from the 
ground. In shape it resembles an irregular knob or protuberance, and the 
silk which composes it being of a grey colour, at a distance it would be 
taken for a mass of lichens. Sometimes this nest is upwards of eighteen 
inches long, and six broad, rising in the middle about four inches from the 
surface of the tree. Between the trunk and the silken covering, a single 
hole is left which serves for the entrance and exit of the inhabitants. 
These differ in their manners from those last mentioned. While very 
young they have no fixed habitation, contenting themselves with a succes- 
sion of different temporary camps until they have attained two-thirds of 
their growth. Then it is they unite their labours in spinning the net just 
described ; and in’ this they continue to reside in harmony until they 
become perfect insects, assuming in it even the state of chrysalis.” 
Habitations similar, as to their general structure, to the above, though 
differing in several minute circumstances, are formed by the larvae of 
several other moths,.as of Porthesia pheorrhea, Clisiocampa neustria, &c., 
as well as those of Vanessa Jo, Melitea Cinwia, and some other butter- 
flies*, and even of some saw-flies (Serrifera), which, however, have each a 
separate silken covering. But as it would be tedious to describe these par- 
ticularly, I pass on to the habitations formed by insects in their perfect 
state, which have in view the education of their young as well of self-pre- 
servation, describing in succession those of ants, bees, wasps, and white 
ants. 
_Of these the most'simple in their structure are the nests of different 
kinds of ants, many of which externally present the appearance of hillocks 
more or less conical, formed of earth or other substances. 
The nest of the large red or horse ants (. rufa), which are common in 
Woods, at the first aspect seems a very confused mass. Exteriorly it is a 
conical mount composed of pieces of straw, fragments of wood, little 
stones, leaves, grain; in short, of any portable materials within their reach. 
1 Reaum. ii. 128, 
2 Thid, 179, 
5 The habits of a Mexican species of butterfly (Zucheira socialis Westw.), of 
Which the lary construct a strong white parchment-like bag, in which they reside 
and undergo their transformations, have been described by Mr. Westwood in the 
Trans, of the Ent. Soc. of London, vi. pl. vi. 
. 
