EDITORIAL AND GENERAL. 



249 



ciation with The Audubon Society in an 

 attempt to stimulate both general and 

 special interests. 



SUBMERGED SEEDS. 



On the mud bottom, after the drainage 

 of a pond in Cold Spring" Harbor, L. L, 

 there grew 140 species of plants. This 

 suggested the question, did the seeds 

 drift in that spring, or was the growth 

 the results of seeds that had been as- 

 sembling for many years. In other 

 words, how long can seeds of common 

 wild plants retain their vitality in mud 

 and water? 



To ascertain this, experiments are in 

 progress by keeping a series of jars of 

 mud and water, and opening them at long 

 intervals. ( )ne that has been kept 

 twenty-nine months has a luxuriant 

 growth. Another will be opened in fifty- 

 three months and the last of the series 

 will be kept ten or fifteen years. 



This is an interesting experiment that 

 can easily be performed by any one at 

 little actual time employed. Just collect 

 the mud from ponds, put in bottles or 

 jars, open at regular intervals, watch and 

 wait. 



Then report results. 



STUDYING THE EGGS OF A 

 CECROPIA MOTH. 



Near my laboratory is a luxuriant 

 growth of honeysuckle, that at the time 

 I have in mind was in full bloom. 

 Some visitors had been around the 

 laboratory in the early evening. As 

 ihey were passing down the w r alk to- 

 ward the road, one of them exclaimed, 

 "Oh, look at those lady birds." 1 must 

 confess that 1 had at that time never 

 heard the term lady bird applied to a 

 moth. My first impression was that 

 it was a new name for some of our 

 well-known birds, and so 1 at once 

 looked at the tree tops. The visitor 

 exclaimed, "No not there, but on your 

 honeysuckle bush," and there I saw 

 not birds, but cecropia moths, self- 

 evidently the male and the female. I 

 placed them within a cage and therein 

 was laid a mass of eggs about J^-inch 

 in height, covering the space about as 

 large as that of a cent. 



1 kept this mass, saw the little black 

 larva? hatch out and gradually turn to 

 a greenish color as they grew older. 

 Herewith is a photo-macrograph of the 

 egg mass, but this only faintly repre- 

 sents the beauty of the eggs as I saw 



EGGS OF CECROPIA MOTH. 

 I found it convenient to put some mucilage on a strip of black cardboard and place on this the 

 egg mass. Then it was convenient to handle and the eggs were brought into clear view by the black 

 background. The eggs hatched as will be seen in the illustration. 



