550 AmmAZ. Report of New York 
It then prepares to construct the girt for holding the pupa. For 
doing this work it requires to have a secure foothold, for it must not 
make a misstep and fall as it sometimes does when it is wandering 
around. It accordingly proceeds to cover the spot it has selected with 
a carpet of silken threads. It appears to be the constant habit of 
these worms to place such a carpet wherever they tarry for a day or 
more, although 1 do not see this fact noticed by any writer. And 
being now grown to a larger sfce, with a more arduous labor to per¬ 
form, a more densely woven and substantial fabric is constructed 
than on previous occasions. The worm finishes this work by spin¬ 
ning upon the lower part of the mat a little round wad or hillock of 
threads, which is frequently of a conical form and pointed at its apex. 
The worm is industriously occupied one or two hours in construct¬ 
ing this carpet and the little wad at its lower end. As soon as this 
work is finished it turns around with its head upward, and straighten¬ 
ing itself on the mat, it moves the tip end of its body around, until 
it finds the little elevated wad. This it grasps between the hind pair 
of its feet, securely fastening their hooks into it. And with the feet 
along the middle of its body it also clings to the mat. It thus stands 
perfectly secure from falliug, with the feet at the fore part of its body 
disengaged. 
Without any pause in its work it now proceeds to spin the girt 
around its body. This curious operation it will be difficult to describe so 
clearly as to make it easily comprehended by the reader. The worm 
has no sooner fastened its hind pairs of feet to the mat of threads it 
has spun and straightened itself, than it begins to bend the fore part 
of its body around, bringing its head backward to near the middle of 
one side or the other. Put thus upon the stretch, the anterior half 
of the body becomes lengthened and more slender than the hind 
part, and so very pliant and flexible that the worm is able to double 
it together in every direction. 
And now turning its head backward to one side, it applies its mouth 
to the surface on which it is standing, near the anterior pair of thick 
fleshy prolegs, sometimes in a line with these legs, sometimes a little 
back of them. It there fastens the end of a thread of silk which it 
spins froip its mouth. It now requires to turn over, in order to carry 
this thread over its back and fasten it on the opposite side of its body. 
It accomplishes this in a very peculiar and truly remarkable manner. 
Releasing its anterior feet from their hold and keeping its body doubled 
together, it is able to carry its head and the double part of its body 
up over its back and down upon the opposite side, all this time keep- 
