3 S2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The study of the geographical distribution of moths has led us a 

 long way back in the history of our own race, to that East whence art 

 and science sprang. There is only one other fact to be briefly men- 

 tioned here, and that is the discovery by Louis Agassiz, who accom- 

 plished so much toward an understanding of our entire fauna, of a 

 tropical colony of moths inhabiting the southern extremity of the 

 Peninsula of Florida. I have examined the specimens brought thence, 

 now in the Museum at Cambridge. Standing in the way of the south 

 winds and the Gulf Stream, Florida receives constant accessions to its 

 tropical colony of insects. Not a few of the Florida moths seem to 

 have changed a little, and the probability is that here also we may 

 have to do with descendants of a very ancient colonization. Our con- 

 tinent, in fact, has harbored many immigrants besides the Pilgrim 

 Fathers, who are distinguished among these by their greater impor- 

 tance, and the results of their adventurous voyage. 



The celebrated receipt of Mrs. Glass, which is of such general ap- 

 plication and has served so many literary purposes, must be employed 

 before we can place our specimens of moths in the cabinet. And, 

 indeed, everything depends upon the catching of them, and their ap- 

 pearance after being caught. The scales and the little fine fringes 

 which edge the wings are but delicately fastened to the membrane of 

 the wing itself, and are lost with the lightest rubbing. Some species 

 can never be captured on the wing in a really perfect condition. 

 When the "bee-hawks" {Hemaris sp.) emerge from the chrysalis, 

 there is a dusting of fine scales over the glassy portions of the wings, 

 which is scattered by the first fluttering flight of the insect : 



" Like gold motes in the air it flies." 



Again, several moths are ornamented with patches of looser and 

 bright-colored scales which are readily lost, the specimens still appear- 

 ing fresh after they have vanished. Thus the " dark - red under- 

 whig " ( Catocala cara) has the fore-wings adorned with spots of a 

 greenish hue when it leaves the pupa, but they are apt to fall and the 

 wings then appear all of a dark-brown. Not knowing this, the fresh 

 specimens have been described as a new variety, by an enterprising and 

 unfortunately somewhat critical writer, under the name Carlssima. 



We have the choice of pursuing our entomological prey in each of 

 its stages of growth of eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis, or moth. If we 

 gather them in either of the first three states, we have to nurse them 

 until they are brought to the last, and, since in this way we can always 

 obtain bright examples, it is much preferred by moth-fanciers. It 

 is, indeed, the only way to obtain adequate information about these 

 insects, and, as they are usually brought through them all with less 

 difficulty than the other insects in captivity, the breeding of moths 

 becomes an alluring and profitable pursuit. 



Egg-hunting is the least remunerating way of procuring moths, 



