OF PAPILIONACEOUS INSECTS. AQ 
pupa case, which she has recently left. This envelope 
is lined with a fine soft silky substance, which forms 
a comfortable asylum for the eggs. Swammerdam 
says, that “ this custom of fastening the eggs to the 
web in a constant method, and by the immutable law 
of Nature, is so peculiar to this species of insects, that 
Lhave never observed it in any other kind what- 
soever. This female, like a most prudent housewife, 
never leaves her habitation, but is always fixing her 
eggs to the surface of the web out of which she has 
herself crept, thus affording a beautiful instance of 
industrious housewifery.” 
A strong reason for the domesticated habits of this 
female moth, is her wings being so very short that 
they are of little use in rendering her buoyant ; and 
of that description which naturalists call rudiment- 
ary wings. This is also the case with the females 
of some other moths. So different are these females 
from the males, that they may be taken for animals 
of distinct genera. Their bodies are broad and thick, 
in proportion to those of the males, and the wings 
excessively small, as will be seen by the following 
figure of the female Vapourer Moth : 
On the other hand, the wings of the male are 
