1921| Aldrich: Coloradia Pandora Blake 37 
they remain an hour, until partly cooked and dried. The 
Indians then sift them out of the mixture with a specially 
made, cone-shaped sieve, so that the insects are free from 
dirt. The drying is finished by spreading them on the ground 
in bark huts for two days, after which they are sacked and keep 
indefinitely in a cool, dry place. The material which I bought 
from a squaw at Mono Lake in 1911 is still in perfect condition; 
in fact, I think the odor improves with age. 
This is an important food of the Indians about Mono Lake, 
in spite of the fact that it only lately came to the notice of the 
whites outside the immediate region. Mr. Way reports that 
Chief Jake Garrison put up a ton and a half this past summer, 
in the woods just south of Mono Lake. He says the cater- 
pillars are regarded as a great delicacy, and only a few at a 
time are used to flavor a stew. In the case already reported 
by me, however, it appeared that the stew was made entirely 
of caterpillars; I found the larve tough and the stew insipid 
from lack of salt, the flavor resembling to my palate the taste 
of linseed oil. I could not from my own experience pronounce 
it a delicacy; however, de gustibus non et disputandum. 
Now regarding the life history of the insect. The species is 
Colorado pandora Blake, as above indicated. It was determined 
by Mr. Wm. Schaus. The foodplant is Pinus jeffreyi. The 
life cycle of the moth occupies two years, and there is only one 
brood in the section where the observations were made. This 
fact has been understood by the Indians from time immemorial, 
so they count on putting up pe-aggies every other year. 
The eggs are laid “‘in rough, sheltered places in the bark of 
the pine trees.” This is about the latter part of April. On 
hatching somewhat later, the larve ascend the tree and feed on 
the needles during the short summer of that high altitude 
(about 7000 feet). By fall they are in the tops of the trees, 
where ‘‘they form a ball in the pine needles—a ball of pe-aggies, 
not a ball of pine needles, but they form this among the needles.”’ 
“‘T have seen them thus many times in falling timber for saw- 
mills in early spring, in Jeffrey pine belts only.”’ 
Thus they hibernate, enduring a cold winter with con- 
siderable snow. In their second summer they grow rapidly 
and are through feeding by July first. Then they descend the 
tree-trunks, and if they escape the Indians, they scatter and 
