156 



NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



Figure 32 



Any one who meets with these caterpillars in the above- 

 mentioned months may 

 liave the pleasure of 

 vv'itnessing their meta- 

 morphosis into cocoons, 

 and several months aft- 

 erward into an elegant 

 Moth, by taking them 

 up very carefully upon 

 leaves and cautiously 

 carrying them home, 

 placing them in a spa- 

 cious box, with a little 

 moistened earth at the 

 bottom, and then put- 

 ting into it some dry 

 brush-wood, about one 

 foot high, and covering 

 the whole with gauze in 

 order to prevent their 

 escape. On the first and 

 second days of their cap- 

 tivity they will run un- 

 steadily from one part 

 of the box to another, 

 ascending and descend- 

 ing, examining every 

 part of it in order to 

 choose the most conve- 

 " nient spot for spinning 

 their cocoon, in which 

 the chrysalis is secured from the inclemency of the damp and 

 cold weather, and lies safer than an infant in its cradle. In 

 less than two days they spin, between two twigs of the brush, 

 a brown, parchment-like cocoon, three inches long and one 



Caterpillar of the Cecropia. 



