403 



. LETTEE Xy. 



HABITATIONS OF INSECTS — continued. 



The habitations of insects which I shall next proceed to de- 

 scribe are those formed by the united labour of several in- 

 dividuals. 



The societies which thus combine their operations may be 

 divided into two kinds : 1st, those of which the object is simply 

 the conservation of the individuals composing them ; and 2dly5 

 those whose object is also the nurture and education of their 

 young. To the last head belong bees, wasps, &c. : to the 

 former the larvae of some species of moths, whose labours, being 

 the most simple, I shall first describe. 



You cannot fail to have observed in gardens the fruit trees 

 disfigured, as you would probably think them, with what at 

 first view seem very strong and thick spiders' webs. If you 

 have bestowed upon these webs the slightest attention, you 

 must have likewise remarked that they difier very materially in 

 their construction from those spun by spiders, inclosing on 

 every side an angular space, and being besides filled with 

 caterpillars. These are the larvae of Porthesia chrysorrhcea, 

 and the web which contains them is spun by their united la- 

 bour for the protection of the common society. As soon as 

 the cluster of eggs deposited by the parent moth is hatched, 

 the young caterpillars, to the number of three or four hun- 

 dred, commence their operations. At first they content them- 

 selves by forming a sort of hammock of the single leaf upon 

 which they find themselves assembled, covering it with a root 

 composed of a number of silken threads drawn from one edge 

 to the other ; and under one or more of these temporary ha- 

 bitations they reside for a few days, until they are become 

 large and strong enough to undertake a more solid and spa- 

 cious building sufficient to contain the whole society. In 



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