THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 345 



A \V(3RM THAT CARES. 



BY XIMEXA :MCC;LASHAN, TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA. 



Does the worm have care or thought for the adult it is to 

 produce? Many writers assert that there are no signs of sentiment 

 in any of the stages of moth or butterfly existence. They say the 

 mother fiy lays her eggs because of natural law, the eggs hatch 

 because they must, the larvae simply live to eat, and the chrysalis, 

 however wonderful, is only a part of the process. That is all very 

 interesting, but the mother never sees nor cares for her progeny, 

 nor does the offspring care for anything but itself. If one were to 

 cross pens in a friendly tilf with these writers, the best illustrations 

 of loving care would doubtless be sought in the pains and trouble 

 which the mother fly manifests in depositing her eggs, or in the 

 solicitude of the larva for the protection of its pupa. 



In my home at Truckee, California, there is a species of Cossus, 

 which Barnes and McDunnough say is "probably Cossus angrezi 

 Bailey," which lays its eggs under the bark and in the wood of the 

 cotton-wood tree in August. The female will oviposit if confined 

 in a paper bag, and lays more than a hundred eggs; but, if allowed 

 to have her own way, she hides each egg in the wood or bark of the 

 tree. The lairvae burrow into the interior of the trunk, and up to the 

 time when they wish to pupate they are entirely hidden from view. 

 They pupate in the bottom of their burrow, and if they only plan 

 for themselves there would seem to be no reason why they should 

 delay the transformation when the time arrives. As a matter of 

 fact, however, they seem to know that the adult must have access 

 to the open air which they themselves have never breathed. Just 

 before pupation they carry their burrow to the surface and smooth 

 the jagged ends of the bark and wood of the opening so that noth- 

 ing will retard the egress of the moth. They do one thing more 

 which shows a high order of instinct, if it be not reason. The 

 diameter of the opening, just at the surface, is made a trifle less 

 than that of the burrow itself. A little thin ledge projects inward 

 all around the edges of the hole. When the adult is ready to 

 emerge, with the large pupa-case around its body, it arrives at the 

 projecting ledge on the inner side of the opening, and the case itself 

 is a trifle too large to slip through. It is held fast by the ledge while 



October, 1013 



