368 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
alarm nor uneasiness, but passed over the backs of one another 
as if they had made only a portion of the branch. 
‘ In none of their operations did they seem to be subject to 
any discipline, each individual appearing to work in perfecting 
the structure from individual instinct, in the same manner as 
was remarked by M. Huber in the case of the hive bees. In 
making such experiments, it is obvious that the species of cater- 
pillars experimented with must feed upon the same sort of 
plant/ 
One remark ought to be made on this interesting narrative. 
The author lays some stress on the fact that the two insects 
belonged not only to different species, but to different genera. 
It must, however, be remembered that although the distinction 
of insects into species is easy enough, their grouping into genera 
is quite arbitrary, depending entirely on the classifier. Linnaeus, 
for example, divided all the butterflies into two genera, while 
the modern classification admits some thirty genera. While, 
therefore, we may lay every stress on the species, we need not 
trouble ourselves much about the genus. 
The two moths mentioned in this history are very different 
in appearance, and the larvae are still more unlike. They have, 
however, this point of similarity, that they construct large 
dwellings upon branches, spinning them of silk, and making 
them large enough to contain a whole brood at once. The 
Lackey moths are so called on account of the bright colours of 
the caterpillars, which are striped and decorated like modern 
footmen. Some species, however, derive the name from a 
different source. 
When the mother insect lays her eggs, she deposits them on 
a small branch or twig, disposing them in a ring that completely 
encircles the twig, as a bracelet surrounds a lady’s wrist. When 
she has completed the circle, she covers the eggs with a kind 
of varnish, which soon hardens, and forms a perfect defence 
from the rain. The varnish is so hard, and binds the eggs so 
firmly together, that, if the twig be carefully severed, the whole 
mass of eggs can be slipped off entire. As this varnish pro- 
duces the same effect on eggs as lacquer does upon polished 
