30 CATERPILLARS AND THEIR MOTHS 



possibility of the hatchlings' lacking food when they 

 need it. This is all the care needed by eggs — except 

 to keep the boxes out of the sunlight, as caterpillar- 

 boxes should be kept, and in a cool place. 



No parasitic flies can enter such tin boxes so closed, 

 and this means one danger escaped by the eggs. 

 Moreover, such boxes are too small to be likely to be 

 seized by other members of the family for uses of 

 their own, as once happened to an egg-box of a little 

 girl who, when asked if her cecropia eggs had hatched, 

 said : "J don't know. I had them in a nice big paste- 

 board box, and my sister Angela wanted something 

 to pick cherries in, so she took my box, and then she 

 ate up all the cherries and the eggs with them " ! 



When the caterpillars hatch they may be put into 

 boxes a little larger than the egg-boxes — still round 

 ones, with scrim on top, young and tender leaves in- 

 ,side, and the cover shut tight over the scrim. The 

 leaf or leaves should be sprinkled, for the little crawlers 

 like water. It is a good plan not to move them from 

 the egg-box until it is certain that they do not mean 

 to eat any more shell. They never nibble the egg- 

 shells after eating leaf -pulp. 



Crowding is sure to be fatal to some of the larvae 

 if it is allowed, even when they are small. Many 

 small caterpillars spin threads of silk as they crawl, 

 and if there are too many in a box the little larvge 

 become entangled in the threads or crawl over one an- 

 other, spinning as they crawl, and so hurt one another. 

 In the early molts they are usually most delicate and 

 need watching, plenty of room, and no handling. As 

 they grow larger they need more room and older 



