HABITATIONS OP INSECTS. 



395 



This the little occupant accomplishes as dexterously as any 

 tailor. If the case merely requires lengthening, the task is 

 easy. All that is needful is to add a new ring of hair or 

 wool and silk to each end. But to enlarge it in width is not 

 so simple an affair. Yet it sets to work precisely as we 

 should, slitting the case on the two opposite sides, and then 

 adroitly inserting between them two pieces of the requisite 

 size. It does not, however, cut open the case from one end 

 to the other at once : the sides would separate too far asunder, 

 and the insect be left naked. It therefore first cuts each side 

 about half way down, and then, after having filled up the 

 fissure, proceeds to cut the remaining half ; so that, in fact, 

 four enlargements are made, and four separate pieces inserted. 

 The colour of the habit is always the same as that of the 

 stuff from which it is taken. Thus, if its original colour be 

 blue, and the insect previously to enlarging it be put upon 

 red cloth, the circles at the end and two stripes down the 

 middle will be red. If placed alternately upon cloths of 

 different hues, its dress will be parti-coloured, like that of a 

 Harlequin. The injury occasioned to us by these insects is 

 not confined to the quantity of materials consumed in cloth- 

 ing and feeding themselves. In moving from place to place 

 they seem to be as much incommoded by the long hairs 

 which surround them as we are by walking amongst high 

 grass ; and accordingly, marching scythe in hand, with their 

 teeth they cut out a smooth road, from time to time reposing 

 themselves, and anchoring their little case with small silken 

 cables. 



If, as I hope, you are induced to investigate the manners 

 of these insects, you have but to leave an old coat for a few 

 months undisturbed in a dark closet, and you may be pretty 

 certain of meeting with an abundant colony. 



Not merely wool or hair, but another subtance analogous 

 to one employed in our dress, is adopted for their clothing by 

 other insects. The larva of a fly which lives on the seeds of 

 willows makes itself a very beautiful case of their cottony 

 down, not only impervious to wet and cold, but serving, if 

 accidentally blown into the water, which, from the situation 



