THE HOUSE-BUILDER MOTH. 
67 
I other, very much like the rods in the old Roman fasces, which 
i were borne by the lictors before the consuls. So close indeed 
is the resemblance, that by some writers the insects have been 
called Lictor Moths. 
The reader will observe that in the illustration the nest is 
shown as depending from the caterpillar, part of which pro- 
trudes from its mouth and the other part is hidden. This atti- 
tude is given because it is that in which the insect is generally 
seen. While young the caterpillar is so strong, and the house 
is so light, that it can carry the tail nearly upright. 
Scraps of wood mixed with fragments of leaves are the mate- 
rials which are used, and they are bound together very firmly 
by the silken threads with which so many caterpillars are en- 
dowed, whether they belong to the butterflies or moths. There 
; is a tolerable degree of elasticity about it, especially at the 
: mouth, which is slightly expanded so as to assume an irregular 
f funnel-like shape, and can be drawn together at will by means 
of the silken threads attached to its circumference. The cater- 
I pillar has thus two means of guarding itself from attacks. If it 
is still clinging to a branch, it can retreat into the house and 
; press the mouth so firmly against the branch that it is closed 
effectively, just as a limpet shelters its soft body by pressing the 
'i top of the shell against the rock. Or, if detached, it can pull 
the lips together and thus shut itself up in its strange house as 
completely as a box tortoise in its shell. 
Not only does the creature reside in this nest during its larval 
condition, but also passes the pupal stage in it, and sometimes 
the whole of its life. As soon as it ceases from feeding, and is 
about to become a pupa, it retires far into its cell, shuts up the 
mouth, throws off its last caterpillar skin, and there remains 
until the larva has become a perfect insect. Should the moth 
be of the male sex, it creeps out of the domicile and speedily 
t takes to wing, employing itself in the great object of its life, 
that of seeking a mate. 
In ordinary cases, to find a mate seems to be no difficult 
task, but the House-builder Moth has no ordinary obstacles to 
overcome. The female never leaves her cell, for she would be 
