194 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



edges of the place which it marked out for its edi- 

 fice ; then it ran several threads in a square manner 

 from side to side, and from end to end, but very 

 irregularly in point of arrangement : these were in- 

 tended for the skeleton or frame-work of the building. 



Rudiments of the Cell of the Puss-Moth 



When this outline was finished, the next step was to 

 strengthen each thread of silk, by adding several 

 (sometimes six or eight) parallel ones, all of which 

 were then glued together into a single thread, by 

 the insect running its mandibles, charged with 

 gluten, along the line. The meshes, or spaces, 

 which were thus widened by the compression of the 

 parallel threads, were immediately filled up with 

 fresh threads, till at length only very small spaces 

 were left. It was in this stage of the operation that 

 the paper came into requisition, small portions of it 

 being gnawed off' the box and glued into the meshes. 

 It was not, however, into the meshes only that the 

 bits of paper were inserted ; for the whole fabric was 

 in the end thickly studded over with them. In about 

 half a day from the first thread of the frame-work 

 being spun the building was completed. It was at 

 first, however, rather soft, and yielded to slight pres- 

 sure with the finger; but as soon as it became 



four weeks after, of a brownish- black colour, mottled with white, 

 or rather grey, in the manner of lace. 



Bonnet also mentions more than one instance in which he 

 observed caterpillars making use of paper, when they could not 

 procure other materials. 



