60 CATERPILLARS AND THEIR MOTHS 



everything that came in our way without realizing 

 how much more we could really learn by confining 

 our study to narrower limits, One of Us brought in an 

 alder-branch nearly covered with cottony aphids. It 

 was placed in the corner of a room occupied by the 

 Other of Us, — for we were then in a country hotel, — 

 and the abundance of fresh material gathered every 

 day made us leave this untouched. One day the Other 

 of Us said : " Do look at my pincushion ! It is all 

 covered with funny little cases like aces of clubs, only 

 not black." Examination showed them to be chrysa- 

 lids, and many more were found on the walls, curtains, 

 and doors. They were collected and put into a box to 

 be kept until the following spring, but on opening the 

 box a few weeks later the butterflies were found dead, 

 having emerged in time for a second brood. We did 

 not know about second broods then. We knew that 

 the caterpillars which made the chrysalids must have 

 come from the alder-bough, as there was no other 

 source from which they could have come. We threw 

 away all the butterflies but three or four, and when 

 we next went to see an entomologist we took these to 

 learn their names, for our books gave nothing by 

 which we could identify them. He was enthusiastic 

 over "the rare Fenis'eca tarquin'ius,''^ and asked all 

 sorts of questions about them, begging the butterflies 

 for a museum. Of course we were very sorry that we 

 had not known their value and kept more of them, 

 but we were far more sorry a few years later when 

 an entomologist published the life-history of the 

 species, showing that the little caterpillars fed wholly 

 upon the larvse of the cottony aphids, a most unusual 



