80 Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles 



Warts seem to be the favorite decorations with 

 these creatures. There is another row of warts 

 below the blue ones on the first five rings. 



In the insect world the female is the bigger and 

 more important of the two sexes, as she has to 

 furnish storage room in her body for hundreds of 

 eggs and see that at last the eggs are properly- 

 placed. Like the Luna miller, neither Mr. nor JVIrs. 

 Cecropia eat any food after they become moths or 

 millers. The female is so much heavier and stockier 

 than the male that you can ofttimes tell by the 

 weight of the cocoon whether it is going to produce 

 a female or male moth. The cocoon (Fig. 73) is a 

 well-finished silken sleeping-bag, the outside is 

 waterproof and inside of that is a loose fuzzy silk 

 to keep out the cold and then the rounded egg- 

 shaped cell which contains the mummy-like pupa or 

 chrysalis. 



These cocoons must be well made because the 

 caterpillars go into them, change to the pupa form 

 and stay there through all the storms of winter; 

 the moth does not come out until the next summer. 

 But even then she would not be able to get out of 

 her prison cell if Mother Nature had not provided 

 her with some of that chemical fluid which softens 



