244 
INSECTS. 
walls, or to the bark of trees ; and there are some 
who enter even into the heart of the wood. We 
frequently observe them suspended to the roofs of 
houses, or to stakes in the hedges, where these cu- 
rious little enclosures are formed by the caterpillar 
in the following manner : The creature begins the 
operation by extracting from her own substance a 
glutinous fluid, which lengthens, and acquires a due 
consistency in proportion as she advances her head 
from one place to another ; when she has glued 
and interlaced several threads on some smooth place 
to which she intends to fix herself, she insinuates 
her hinder paws into a complication of the tissue, 
by means of the minute claws in which they teimi- 
nate. In this manner she accomplishes her first 
fastening ; after which she rears her head, and fixes 
a new thread on the lateral wood that corresponds 
with her fifth ring; then, with a gentle deflec- 
tion of her head, she draws this thread in the form 
of a bow around her back, and fastens it to the op- 
posite side. She frequently repeats these motions, 
in order to conduct the thread from the left to the 
right, and from the right to the ieft. When this 
second band, which sustains the animal above the 
middle of the body, has been sufficiently doubled 
and fortified, she rests upon it, and then agitates 
her body till it is entirely covered with sweat; 
after which her skin bursts and gradually shrinks 
away, while from the head of the chrysalis a set of 
little points are extended beyond the threads, that 
are sufficient, with the assistance of the band that 
