MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



afterward proved the moth defective. The wings on one 

 side were only about half size, and on the other little 

 patches no larger than my thumb nail. The body was 

 shrunken and weakly. 



At this time, as I remember, Cecropia eggs were the 

 largest I had seen, but these were larger; the same shape 

 and of a white colour with a brown band. The moth 

 dotted them on the under and upper sides of leaves, on 

 sashes and flower pots, tubs and buckets. They turned 

 brown as the days passed. The little caterpillars that 

 emerged from them were reddish brown, and a quarter of 

 an inch long. 



I could not see my way to release a small army of two or 

 three hundred of these among my plants, so when they 

 emerged I held a leaf before fifty, that seemed liveliest, 

 and transferred them to a big box. The remainder I 

 placed with less ceremony, over mulberry, elm, maple, 

 wild cherry, grape, rose, apple and pear, around the 

 Cabin, and gave the ones kept in confinement the same 

 diet. 



The leaves given them always were dipped in water to 

 keep them fresh longer, and furnish moisture for the 

 feeders. They grew by a series of moults, like all the 

 others I had raised or seen, and were full size in forty- 

 eight days, but travelled a day or two before beginning 

 the pupa stage of their existence. 



The caterpillars were big fellows; the segments deeply 



260 



