The following particulars relative to the economy of this species were communicated to Mr. Drury from a correspondent in Antigua, who forwarded to him specimens of the insect. "This insect is called at Antigua, and several other places in the West Indies, the Mason Fly, a name given it from the remarkable manner in which it builds its nest, or receptacle for its young. "When the male and female have performed the business of copulation, their[30] next care is to provide a proper habitation for raising and securing their future progeny; to this end they seek out a proper spot that is secure from rains, &c. and is so situated as to afford a {100}sufficient warmth for the young offspring, but not so hot as to destroy instead of nourishing them. The sides of a wall underneath the eaves of a house, is the place often pitched on for this purpose. Thus prompted by nature, and instinctively knowing the necessity of performing this work, they carry a quantity of dirt, and place it against the wall, which they temper and soften with a liquor issuing from their bodies, that renders it sufficiently strong and tenacious, and when dry, is proof against any rains that may happen to get at it. The nest is composed generally of about a dozen cells, that are round, and sufficiently capacious to hold the caterpillar when grown to its full size; each of which is about an inch long, and about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, lying parallel with each other, and formed in such a manner, that each cell lies between two others, both above and below it, except the outward ones, having a hole left open at the extremity of each, for the parents to go in and out at pleasure. See Plate 45. Fig. 8. that at 9 being a nest supposed to be cut through its middle, to shew the form of the cells, and manner of their being built. The industry exerted on this occasion is remarkably great, for in a few days the whole is completed. There is no doubt but the heat of the climate greatly contributes to facilitate this work, as the dirt of which it is composed is quickly dried, and by that means enables them to be very expeditious. Their next employment is procuring a number of small spiders, with which each cell is properly filled, and are to serve for food to the young brood; of these they always take care to lay in such a sufficient store, that the young ones seldom, if ever, perish from want. I have opened many of these cells, and constantly found a spider remaining uneat, sometimes two, and not seldom three, so that it is evident the parent animal makes ample provision for the appetite of its young. By the time one cell is replenished with provision, the pregnant female, finding the eggs within her ripening to maturity, and under the necessity of discharging them, lays a single one in the cell, and then covers up the hole with dirt, which was left open for a passage, in so neat and curious a manner, that the nicest eye could not discover the place where they used to enter. She