684 



Rural School Leaflet. 



Fig. 23. — A typical draft horse. For zvhat purposes 

 are draft horses used? 



that spends part of 

 its life in the spindle- 

 shaped gall on the 

 golden-rod is a moth. 

 The four periods are : 

 the Qgg ; the caterpil- 

 lar or larva which 

 hatches from the egg', 

 the pupa or inactive 

 state; and the moth. 

 Now briefly told, 

 the life of the little 

 moth is this : The 

 mother moth lays an 

 tgg on the golden-rod 

 stem, and from this 

 egg there hatches a 

 little caterpillar. .Then 

 the stem grows into a 

 spindle-shaped green 

 house making a nursery and a store-house for this small creature. 

 There it eats, gro\AS larger, and finally changes to a pupa when it is 

 enclosed in a little case and does not move about. It does not leave the 

 little case until it is a fully grown moth prepared by fl)^ out over the 

 fields. 



But how does the moth get out of the gall, you will ask? Prepara- 

 tion was made for this when the insect was a caterpillar. The small 

 moth has not strong mouth parts that it can use to work its way out of 

 the house that surrounds it, therefore, when it is a caterpillar it eats a 

 hole to the surface of the gall. It would not do to leave this door-way 

 open, for a bird or some other enemy might reach it, so the larva makes 

 a plug of silk shaped like a cork. No enemy can push the plug in but 

 when the little insect becomes a moth it can push it out. Notice whether 

 the spindle-shaped gall has a hole or whether there is a plug in it. As 

 soon as you have found this out you will know whether the insect is inside- 

 The round gall on the golden-rod is not made by a moth. Find out 

 whether at this season of the year there is a hole through the gall by 

 means of which the insect has escaped. If not, perhaps the insect is 

 inside. See whether you can find out. 



Road Outdoor Studies by James G. Needham. 



