I1K.sI'1;K11>1 Ill.\NAiJ> LLCILILS. 14G6 



niul it i^ not until tlaii thiit tlirciuU uri.- uttiiclicd to thu cdgca of the Hnp 

 iin<l to the leaf, l)_v contimiullv nhorteiiiiij; which the Hii|> in Itroujjlit over to 

 its tiniil iKKsitiun, which Is ([uite imrnliel to luid iihnottt a[i|ire«Heil aj^'iiinxt 

 the lent". The proce-ss is un exceedingly slow one ; ono raterjiilliir that I 

 w.itche<l recjuiretl thrre or four liours before it l)roujfht Uio Hap to a ripht 

 aujjle, ami only then did it rest awhile from it.s lahorH to partake of food ; 

 ut\er thi.s point the work ia of couroc cn«icr and more rapid. 



On leaving thiit abode to conotruct a new one it alwayo hites away the 

 strmdi* which have kept the flap seourcly in plan', which then parts a 

 little more widely from the leaf and often regains a position at rigiit angles 

 to it. 



At fir:tt, that is when very young, the caterpillar eats the e<lge8 of the 

 leaf on which it rct>ta in patches, and evidently returns to the same feeding 

 spot more than once, as numerous eaten patches may be found separated 

 only by slireds of half eaten leaf. Somctimea when full grown, a nest 

 will be made from an entire leaf bent over upon itself so as to show only 

 the under surface. After it is half grown, ami perhaps before, it rests 

 in its nest with its head and thoracic segments bent at a right angle to 

 the body. When alarmed it opens its jaws very widely. Mr. Lintner 

 found the caterpillars so abundant that he olitaincd about a hundred of 

 them in an hour's search ; and I have found as many as twenty eggs on a 

 very partial examination of a single clump of columbine. 



Pnpation. In preparing for the winter the caterpillar closes up its nest 

 more tiglitly so as to make it impossible to look within, and thus it will re- 

 main. I have not observed that any precaution is taken to secure its fragile 

 neat from falling to the ground ; and one which I carried through the winter, 

 in a cold-storage warehouse, to get the chrysalis period of early spring, 

 came out alive, indeed, but so .shrivelled that its l)ody wius no l)roader than 

 its head and yet, with the head, was not more than six mm. long. Some 

 went into such winter quarters as early as July 5. 



When it wishes to transform in summer, it quits the nest it has 

 last liveil in, cuts the strands as usual, setting the flap free and wanders 

 in search of something more to its liking. This, however, is a nest on the 

 same plant, constructed on precisely the same general principles, so that it 

 i.s dirticult to understand what reason it can have tor it, and why it does 

 not utilize ita last nest. Within such a nest it spins a Y-shaped shroud for 

 the support of the bulk of the future chrysalis ; one which I measured had 

 n stem 2.5 mm. long and branches 5.0 mm. long : and at the tJiil it weaver 

 several sets of meshes in vertical planes, the innermost having for its b.isie 

 a Y-shapo<l ma«s of equal stem and branches each about 1.75 mm. long; and 

 into this mass the hooks of the crema.ster are plunged. The chrysalis state of 

 tlu>!>e I have reared, lastetl from eleven to fifteen days in July and August, 

 and five flays before eclosion signs of the coming change appear ; first the 



1S4 



