ATTACUS CECROPIA 253 



was the one on the dorsal line of the eleventh seg- 

 ment. 



On the seventeenth day they molted for the third 

 time. Their heads were green, marked with black. 

 Their bodies were yellow, with longitudinal lines of 

 black dots ; four large black tubercles on the first seg- 

 ment, two red ones each on the dorsum of the second, 

 third, and fourth segments, and one large yellow 

 tubercle ringed with black on the eleventh segment. 

 The other tubercles were black. 



On the twenty-third day they molted for the fourth 

 time, and came out blue-green, with the red and yellow 

 large tubercles as before ; but the dorsal black ones had 

 become yellow, and the lateral and stigmatal black 

 ones pale blue, all with short black set*. 



They fed for ten days, growing very large around 

 and fully four inches long, and eating voraciously. 

 Then they emptied their intestines of a very viscous 

 fluid and began spinning cocoons each one lengthwise 

 of a twig, fastening the leaves around the cocoon 

 irregularly, not drawing one leaf smoothly as promethea 

 does. The cocoons were white and shining at first, 

 then grew just the color of auburn hair. Out of doors 

 this color grows grayer with exposure to sun and 

 rain. They are double, the outer being loosely spun, 

 the inner very firm and tough, almost hard. 



The cocoons vary much in shape, as the illustration 

 shows, and this variation has given rise to theories. 

 One man considers that all the baggy cocoons contain 

 female moths, which we have often found not to be 

 the case. Another man thinks that the baggy ones 

 are always found low down near the ground. We, 



