Vol. XXl'x.l ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 15 



Moonstones in a Cecropia Cocoon (Lepid.). 

 By L. O. HOWARD, Washington, D. C. 



I recently received from a Florida correspondent two very 

 beautiful moonstones found in the inner cocoon of a cecropia 

 moth. They are about the same size, and the one measured 

 is 13x8x9 mm. I remembered the notes in Volume II of the 

 American Entomologist (1870) and at once turned to them. 

 In an article on the cecropia moth, on page 100, Doctor Riley 

 states that on the 2Oth of March, 1867, Mr. J. A. Jackson, of 

 Goodings Grove, Illinois, brought in a cocoon from which the 

 moth had not yet escaped. Enclosed in the cocoon with the 

 chrysalis was a kernel of corn. Doctor Riley thought that the 

 kernel had been accidentally dropped by some bird and had 

 fallen through the meshes of loose silk and lodged while the 

 worm was yet spinning its cocoon. He remarked, "It is one of 

 those singular coincidences which occur once in a lifetime, 

 and we mention it in this connection simply to place the fact 

 on record." 



On page 177 of the same volume is a letter from Dr. Will- 

 iam LeBaron, dated Geneva, Illinois, February 22, 1870. in 

 which he stated that he had seen the note and that in two in- 

 stances cocoons had been brought to him for examination by 

 a young man of Geneva, each containing a grain of corn. 

 Doctor LeBaron's explanation was that the corn was deposit- 

 ed in the cocoon for safe keeping during the formation, or pos- 

 sibly forced into the loose end after completion, of the cocoon, 

 by some bird. He suspected the bluejay. 



Still later, on page 370 of the same volume, a correspondent, 

 "S. F. C.," wrote, stating that during the fall of '69 he found 

 five cocoons of the cecropia moth, all of which contained ker- 

 nels of corn or of wheat and in a sixth was a small acorn. I It- 

 had seen chickadees trying to store grains of corn and wheat, 

 he said, and believed that the chickadee as well as the blue-jay 

 used the cocoon of the cecropia moth as a storehouse. 



My original correspondent in regard to the moonstones was 

 Dr. W. H. Howcll, Mayor of Leesburg. He sent me the inner 

 cocoon of the cecropia moth, cut in half, with two of the moon- 

 stones inside. The third, he stated, had been retained. On 



