THE “BASKET” MOTH 
15 
benumbed them by stinging. It then closes the 
cell and commences to build another, adjoining the 
first. Sometimes two rows of cells are made, one 
row below the other, with a thick clay partition 
between them. (Illustration, p. 30.) 
CYCLE—Female wasp lays an egg in the body 
of one spider in each cell. A cream-coloured grub 
emerges from the egg, devours the bodies of all 
the spiders in the cell, packing all their legs into 
one corner. The grub then spins a silky covering 
(cocoon) around its body and changes into a 
reddish-brown "pupa. About a week afterwards 
a Mason Wasp makes its way out of the pupa skin 
in which it has gone through the change of 
producing its wings, etc. (metamorphosis). 
NOTE—The young grub gets "fresh" food, as 
the benumbed spiders live for some days after 
being placed in the nest. 
THE “BASKET” MOTH 
DESCRIPTION—Also called the Case Moth. 
The Moth itself is seldom seen, but the “cases” 
made by the caterpillars which hatch out of the 
moth’s eggs are well known. They are tubular 
in shape with the lower end pointed, and are found 
suspended from all sorts of places—window-sills, 
edges of weatherboards, twigs, etc. They are 
large, sometimes being nearly three inches long. 
Colour: Dark brown, almost black. Material: Very 
tough, being hard to cut, even with a pair of 
scissors. They are lined inside with silk fibres 
made by the large black caterpillars which live 
inside them. 
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