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pillar unknown/ it is not at all safe to affirm that they 
came from any part of Venezuela, as he made purchases of 
curiosities from travellers and agents from other parts of 
South and Central America, and these may as likely as not 
have come from Mexico. 
The nests are somewhat irregularly pouch-shaped, and 
have each been constructed from an attachment first formed 
upon the bough of a tree. The length varies in each, being 
six, eight, and eleven inches. The external case is evidently 
made from a vegetable paste or pulp which when dry makes 
a tough sort of felted cartridge paper, very light and smooth 
in texture, such a material as would be made with the mas- 
ticated vegetable food consumed by the caterpillars, which we 
see used in the habitations of many other species of insects. 
The outside of the nest is beautifully impressed with out- 
lines of leaves which must have been fixed and pressed 
upon the pulp when it was yet soft and adhesive. Portions 
of these leaves still remain attached to the nests, and the 
species can to some extent be identified. Several species of 
British moths and butterflies are in the habit of enclosing the 
pupa and cocoon in an extra case or nest, by drawing together 
the edges of a large leaf until it completely enshrouds the 
cocoon ; but the larvse which form these large tropical nests 
spread out whole leaves and gum them firmly to the nest. 
Probably it arises from an instinctive precaution against 
enemies, for the leaves would completely hide the nest, yet 
add nothing to its strength. 
On cutting the nest open from end to end the interior is 
seen to be closely packed with a lightish brown mass of silk 
within which can be found a good number of cocoons, vary- 
ing according to the size of the nest. The cocoons are 
enveloped in the silk in rows of two or more, some ranged 
from end to end in rows side by side, and others in irregular 
files from end to end, but all very tightly packed in the 
