THE MUSEUM. 



205 



greatl)' varied by the treatment the 

 ■cocoons receive at the hands of the 

 collectors. 



One season, 1S72, some of my co- 

 coons were e.xposed to constant 

 warmth from October first, into, and 

 through the cold months, and some of 

 the moths emerged during the holi- 

 days, and many of them a little later. 



Since then it has occurred to me to 

 attempt to prevent the hatching of 

 cocoons until the second season; that 

 is — delay the emerging of the moths 

 twelve months beyond the natural and 

 usual time. With this object in vie\N' 

 a lot of cocoons were secured in win- 

 ter and placed in an ice house at the 

 time when the ice was harvested. Un- 

 fortunately the stock of ice for family 

 use gave out in September and my ex- 

 periment proved nothing. Still it 

 demonstrated that progress in develop- 

 ment may be held^in abeyance, as one 

 of the cocooons hatched in the warm 

 days of October and quite four months 

 later than the usual time. 



The following season the experiment 

 was repeated and with a larger num- 

 ber of cocoons, and greater care was 

 used in placing them. But again my 

 efforts were for naught, as the ice- 

 house was old and caved in about the 

 middle of summer, and the cocoons 

 were either ground to pieces, scattered 

 or exposed to the heat of summer. 

 What is more, I do not think that an 

 ice-house is a good place for the ex- 

 periment, as during the warmer 

 months there is sure to be some moist- 

 ure in the atmosphere and this humid- 

 ity I believe affects the pupae disast- 

 rously. 



It would be interesting to learn if 

 active life would be held in abeyance 

 for two seasons instead of one, and if 



healthy moths could be brought out 

 after this enforced abeyance. 



The metamorphosis of insects, when 

 occurring in the warmer months, is a 

 constant change, so far as I am able 

 to discover, and this change, or series 

 of changes, is continuous from the 

 time the caterpillar splits its skin and 

 appears as a pupa, to the emerging of 

 the imago. There are no halts so 

 long as the weather continues warm; 

 and the change goes on continuously 

 from the sixteen-legged caterpillar 

 through the chrysalis to the six-legged 

 winged butterfly. In the case of the 

 Cabbage butterfly I have known the 

 period to be but eight days from pupa- 

 tion to the emerging of the white but- 

 terfly. 



However, when the larger species of 

 caterpillars, which are one-brooded, 

 enter the pupa state, they remain, 

 practically in the same condition until 

 the warm weather. This is literally a 

 period of hibernation, and as much 

 as with the snakes and other reptiles. 

 Now can this period be lengthened, an 

 extra season, and the creature : still 

 live.' I believe so, if the conditions 

 are correct, and I have little doubt 

 that turtles and other reptiles may be 

 kept in the condition of hibernation 

 for two, and perhaps more consecutive 

 seasons, if the conditions are favorable. 



The conditions of hibernation are al- 

 ways a natural one and if only brought 

 on by cold weather, and if the condi- 

 tions are favorable to summer activity, 

 then the animals will continue in an 

 active state through the winter. This 

 has been verified in the cases of tor- 

 toises, as well as with Woodchucks, 

 Arctoinis ntona.v, warm-blooded as 

 well as cold-blooded animals. The 

 condition has been proven in the case 



