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FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



its front legs ; after which it rapidly draws out the rest of its body, the 

 mouth of the cocoon afterwards closing, by the natural elasticity of the silk. 

 At this moment the body of the moth is much swollen and elongated, the 

 wings are small, folded, and pad-like, and the whole insect is soft and moist ; 

 but, attaching itself to the first object at hand where it can hang its heavy 

 body and clumsy wings, the latter become expanded in about twenty min- 

 utes, and the superabundant fluids of the body sufficiently evaporate in a 

 few hours to enable the insect to take wing. 



The eggs of the Cecroj)ia moth are 0.09 inch long, sub-oval, flattened 

 and of a pale cream-color, shaded with light brown ; and they are deposited 

 in small patches on the plants which are to form the food of the future 

 larvae. They are deposited in June, and hatch in from six to ten days after 

 being deposited. Some remarkable exceptions have been known, however, 

 and my friend P. E. Uhler of Baltimore, Md., has had them remain over 

 two years, and yet hatch at the end of that time. 



L.uivAL Changes . — The young worms differ so muuh from the mature ones, and undergo such 

 great changes in appearance in tlie course of their lives, that it is surprising that no account is to be 

 found of these larval changes in any of our entomological works. When first hatched thej"^ are en- 

 tirely black, with the tubercles placed in the same position, but being larger at the base and with a 

 narrower stem than in the more mature individuals, the upper and smaller end being crowned with a 

 whorl of conspicuous stiff black bristles. After the llrst moult the body is of a deep orange color, 

 with the tubercles and head black, and with longitudinal rows of black dots running between them. 

 After the second moult, a still greater change takes place; the body acquires a beautiful yellowish- 

 green tint, the tubercles on the back are blue on joints 1, 13 and 13; coral-i'ed on 2 and 3, and yellow 

 with black spines, and a black spot on the inside and outside of the stem, on 4 — 11 ; those at the sides 

 are blue, and the head is of the same color as body. After the third m jult, the black spots, except 

 a row below the stigmatal row of tubercles, disappear; the tubercles themselves lose all black except 

 the spines, and the head and body become delicate bluish- green rather than yellowish-green as 

 formerly. After the fourth and last moult, the red tubercles near the head frequently become yellow, 

 and when full-grown, the worm measures over four inches, and presents the appearance of Figure 

 36, the tubercles being respectively of the most delicate yellow and blue. 



Two weeks after the worm first began to spin, it changes to a chrysalis, 

 and as already stated, passes the winter in this form, there being but one 

 brood each year. 



[Fig. 36.] 



The cocoon of this insect is often found to contain a kernel of corn, a 

 grain of wheat, or even an acorn, and the first time I found a corn-kernel 

 in one of them, I was sorely puzzled to comprehend how it came 

 there, and imagined that it must have been accidentally dropped by some 



