46 
SOLITARY NESTS. 
These little caterpillars were once thought to 
eat stone, because they were seen with hits of 
it in their mouths. But a naturalist made sure 
this was not the case, for he watched the whole 
process of making the tent, and found that it 
took the caterpillar twenty-four hours to finish it. 
If you gather a leaf from the pear-tree, and 
look upon the under side, you will be almost 
sure to find some downy russet-coloured spots, 
not thicker than a pin, and about a quarter of an 
inch high. You would never guess that these 
were tents of caterpillars, but such they are; 
and if you give one of them a gentle squeeze, out 
will come a little yellow caterpillar to see what is 
the matter. It eats the pulp of the leaf quite 
away in a circle under its tent, and leaves 
nothing but the thin membrane. When there is 
no more food to be had in one place, it will take 
up its tent and carry it to another; until at last 
the leaf is covered over with withered specks, the 
consequence of its former meals. 
The tent itself is made of silk, spun by the 
caterpillar as soon as it comes out of its egg. 
But the little inmate eats and grows every 
hour of the day, and as a natural consequence, 
its house very soon gets too small for it. The 
only remedy for the evil is to make it bigger, 
and this -the caterpillar does in a most inge- 
