THE MOTH AND ITS EGGS. 



If you could become a fairy small enough to ride upon the 

 back of one of the larger of these reddish-brown moths, you 

 would have an interesting experience. During the day the 

 moth would hide with you in almost any quiet shelter she 

 could find, but at night she would fly 

 abroad with many other moths of the 

 same and other kinds. She might be 

 attracted by the light shining through 

 somebody's window, and bump your fairy 

 nose against the pane. But more likely 

 she would ask you to rest upon an apple 

 twig while she busied herself in laying 

 her eggs. She fastens these upon the 

 twig in clusters of two hundred or more, 

 setting them on end side by side upon 

 the bark. When the laying of a cluster 

 is finished the moth covers the eggs with 

 a glue-like substance, which hardens into 

 a shiny varnish that keeps out the mois- 

 ture (Fig. 6). 



After the eggs are laid the fairy will 

 do well to find another moth to carry its 

 tiny self, for this moth will soon die, her 

 purpose in life being accomplished when the eggs were laid. 



These eggs fastened upon the twigs of apple and wild 

 cherry trees during July do not hatch until the following 

 spring. The marvelous change within the shell by which 

 the egg develops into a tiny caterpillar takes place, however, 



Fig. 6. — Egg Mass of 

 Tent Caterpillar. 



