AN INSECT TAILOR 
“Ugh!” shivered Alice. “How can you 
handle that horrid thing, Tommy? It gives me 
the creeps! ” 
“ That’s because you don’t know anything 
about it, Miss! ” retorted her brother. “ In the 
first place this is not a horrid thing; iCs an insect 
tailor, and a decidedly clever one, too. For it 
not only sews a seam much neater than you can 
do; it makes a clever little coat to sleep in, and 
manufactures its own thread to do it with. Uncle 
John has just been telling me all about it.” 
“You said an insect tailor,” Alice commented, 
coming nearer and regarding the object with 
awakening interest. “ Surely caterpillars are 
not insects? ” 
“ That’s just the question I raised,” smiled 
Tommy, “ and Uncle John showed me the proof. 
Scientists say that all creatures that are made up 
of thirteen rings are insects. Well, count the 
rings yourself. . . . You get thirteen all 
right, don’t you? Again, all insects have six 
legs. This fellow looks as if he had a good many 
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