HUNTING 45 



larvae, and the most satisfactory pupae are those 

 reared from the egg. If alive, a pupa will squirm 

 after being held for a while in the warm hand. Co- 

 coons cannot be tested as easily, although if there is a 

 heavy, solid thud when the cocoon is shaken the pupa 

 is pretty sure to be alive. If the cocoon feels light it 

 should be cut open, and usually will be found to con- 

 tain a dried caterpillar, a x'>ackage of small para- 

 site cocoons, or one big parasite cocoon. Many 

 cocoons are found with small holes through which 

 parasites have escaped, and others torn or gnawed 

 open by birds or mice which have feasted on the pupa. 

 Even the dangling pt'omctliea cocoons do not always 

 escape the birds, while the cocoons of the tent-cater- 

 pillars are rifled by thousands. Cocoon-hunting is 

 very profitable, however, and very interesting. 



Moths may be attracted by light and caught in a 

 net. They may be attracted by sweet flowers, or by 

 baiting a fence-rail, stump, or post with rum and mo- 

 lasses, rotten apples, or honey and rum. They may 

 be caught at electric lights, or collected under them, 

 often too much battered for specimens, but able to 

 oviposit. The moth which gave us our life-history of 

 Trip'togon modes'ta, by no means common, was picked 

 up under a street are-light ; its wings were too much 

 broken to fl}^, but it laid us one hundred and fifty eggs. 



Some collectors have great success in beating 

 bushes and saplings for moths, but we have not found 

 this profitable. We have found many moths resting 

 on tree-trunks, piazza-roofs, the sides of buildings, 

 stone walls, or fences, where daylight has overtaken 

 them without causing them to fly to hiding-places. In 



