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SCHOOL ROOM EXPERIENCES 



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At first the moth is a most unattractive object. Its soft furry 

 body and wings are all wet and crumpled, but in a short time the 

 wings begin to spread and dry; the beautiful feathered antennae 

 spread out and there is a beautiful moth sometimes measuring over 

 six inches from tip of wing to tip of wing. 



The general color of its wings is a dark grayish brown, bordered 

 by a lighter color, a dull tan. Across each wing, near the middle, 

 extends a band of almost white. This band shades into a reddish 

 brown ; and near the apex of the front wings is a dark spot divided 



At left, Cocoon; Center, Cecropia Moth; at Right, Pupa Case 



by a fine, semicircular, white line. Between this spot and the 

 margin of the wing is a patch of lavender. 



The moth lives only a few days; lays its eggs; and then dies. 

 Some of our moths had mated, so the eggs which they laid hatched, 

 just seventeen days after they were laid the little caterpillars 

 crept out. There were probably two or three hundred. They 

 were between an eight and a quarter of an inch in length, and 

 black; each segment bearing six little tubercles. 



The caterpillar sheds its skin four times before attaining its 

 growth; after each molt growing noticeably larger. We found 

 that in molting, the head part seemed to be shed separately. It 

 was quite fascinating to watch them as they squirmed out of their 



