156 NORTH AMERICAN 
Any one who meets with these 


Caterpillar of the Cecropia. 
INSECTS. 
caterpillars in the above- 
mentioned months may 
have the pleasure of 
witnessing 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 
