MOTHS AND MOTH-CATCHERS. 251 



when young, the head and tail are somewhat swollen, and in this state 

 one kind has been described as looking like " little animated dumb- 

 bells." When they attain their full size, they prepare to pass into the 

 chrysalis state, and here their methods are equally diverse. A few 

 hang themselves up by threads, like butterflies ; others penetrate the 

 ground, and, without any web, change into a naked, brown-colored 

 pupa, which reposes in a sort of cell, made merely by the movement 

 of the caterpillar pressing back the earth. This is the burial of Psyche. 

 From it a host of oratorical and poetical figures are taken. It affords, 

 in one way, even religious consolation. The human body, buried in 

 the mold, gives to eternity and heaven the soaring soul, as the chrysa- 

 lis, from its earthy cell, discloses the moth which beats the ether with 

 unquiet wing. Again, many kinds of caterpillars spin thick cocoons, as 

 the "American silk-worm" (Telea polyphemus), the "cecropia moth" 

 {Platysamia cecropia), and the " sassafras emperor " ( Callosamia Pro- 

 methea). Many have been the efforts to utilize the silk thus made by 

 our native moths, and interesting experiments are detailed with that 

 spun by the American silk-worm, as published by Mr. Trouvelot. The 

 silk of all these species can be no doubt used, because the Chinese and 

 Japanese silk-worms belong to the same or nearly related genera. 

 But none of them equal the original Indian or European silk-worm, 

 the Bombyx jnori, cultivated chiefly in the south of Europe, and 

 which yields the silk of commerce. After several unsuccessful at- 

 tempts, of late years, the rearing of the cocoons has been profitably 

 undertaken in the United States, probably through the establishment 

 of silk-mills and the protective tariff which stimulates the silk in- 

 dustry. 



Everywhere in the country one may find the chrysalides of moths. 

 Under stones, under moss, and beneath the loose bark of stumps, spun 

 fast to branches and wrapped in the dead leaves of autumn, at the 

 foot of the trees which fed the caterpillars, they may be found in all 

 sorts of hiding-places. The duration of the apparently torpid chrysa- 

 lis-life is different with the season and the species. From a few weeks 

 to sometimes two years, the still nascent insects lie imprisoned. But 

 at length the hour for escape arrives. The brown shell of the chrysa- 

 lis splits, and the moth, struggling out of all its envelopes, crawls to 

 some near foothold, where it may shake out and expand its feathery 

 wings in safety. And then, when night comes, and the breeze, it gives 

 itself to the darkness, braving all dangers, to deposit its eggs in safety 

 and perpetuate its species, its main object accomplished often at the 

 sacrifice of its own brief life. 



While the moths are inseparably connected with the butterflies, we 

 shall know them by their antennae not being knobbed at the tip, their 

 more downy wings and body, their generally softer colors, and their 

 usual sleepy habit in daytime, when they fold their wings and seek 

 dark places for repose. 



