76 
ENEMIES OF THE CATERPILLAR. 
unwilling to lose the prize, he cut off the twig, 
and let both it, and the caterpillar, drop into a 
box he held beneath. 
This same caterpillar spins a very strong cocoon 
for itself, when it is about to change into a 
chrysalis; and it was a matter of wonder, how 
the moth contrived to get out of it. Some said 
and it is now believed to be true, that she ejects 
an acid from her mouth, powerful enough to 
dissolve the wall of the cocoon, and make a 
passage for herself. 
A gentleman wished to be quite sure of this 
and kept the caterpillar in a box, that he 
might see the whole process. It generally 
makes its cocoon of the bark of a tree; but as 
no such material was to be had, it did the best 
it could under the circumstances. First of all, 
it spun a frame-work of silken threads, and 
then added more, and strengthened them by 
gluing them firmly together. It next began to 
gnaw bits of paper from the box, and fastened 
them into the meshes of its net; and went on 
working for half a day, until the whole web was 
so thickly studded with bits of paper, that you 
could not see through it. While it was wet, the 
fabric was soft, and might have been squeezed 
between the fingers; but as soon as the gummy 
matter, that fastened in the bits of paper, was 
