352 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



even on the first of June, the eggs in the ovary of the 

 female Cedar Bird are no larger than mustard seed ; and 

 it is generally the eighth or tenth of that month before 

 they begin to build!" 



There is something about Wilson's descriptions of 

 birds that compels the reader to regard him as the 

 most fascinating of all the ornithologists that have 

 essayed to present life-histories of our United States 

 species. .Moreover, he scorned any attempt to give an 

 added interest to his sketches through the incorporation 

 of truthless and extravagant incidents and statements. 

 Two species of milkweed are found during the month 

 of June in certain sections of eastern United States, 

 which were not de- 

 scribed in the article on 

 those plants that ap- 

 peared several months 

 ago in American For- 

 estry. One of these is 

 the Sand Milkweed, 

 here shown in Figure 

 7, a very interesting 

 variety, the flowers of 

 which have a great at- 

 traction for the smaller 

 kinds of bumble-bees. 

 The other is the Whorl- 

 ed or Green-flowered 

 Milkweed (A. verticil- 



, lata), the most delicate 

 species of the entire 

 genus, of which Neltje 

 Blanchan says : "Com- 

 pared with some of its 

 rank-growing, heavy 

 relatives, how exquisite 

 is this little denizen of 

 the uplands, with its 

 whorls of needle-like 

 leaves set at intervals 

 along a slender, sway- 

 ing stem !" These 

 "whorls" are best seen 

 on the lower half, or 

 the middle third, of the 

 stem, which is shown 

 in another cut (Figure 

 8). Its flowers are distinctly of the milkweed type ; and 

 altogether it is a wonderful little plant, fully deserving of 

 close study on the part of the collector. 



Some of the Pea or Pulse family (Leguminosae) also 

 flower in June, and among these we find, growing in 



sandy and dry situations, along the edges of pine woods, 

 the common Milk Pea (Galatia regulars), the flowers of 

 which, with a sample leaf, are here associated in the 

 figure of our Whorled Milkweed. Gray describes the 

 Milk Pea as "Low, mostly prostrate or twining perennial 

 herbs," and they get their name of Milk Pea from the 

 fact that some of them are said to yield a milky juice, 

 which was not the case in the plant here shown. The 



FIG. 1-THE LARVA 



THE 



CECROPIA 

 LEAVES. 



very slightly hairy pods of this Milk Pea are well shown 

 in the cut, as well as the form of the leaf, the specimen 

 having been collected near Washington during the sum- 

 mer of 1917, as was also the Whorled Milkweed. Either 

 may be found in flower in this locality during the lovely 

 month of June, at a time when there is such a wealth 

 of summer flowers throughout all this part of the country. 

 Our Cecropia Moth. 

 Wherever butterflies and moths are found in numbers 

 in any part of the world, there is sure to be, in either 

 group, from one to many that are far larger and more 

 conspicuously colored than the rest. In North and 

 South Temperate latitudes there may be only a few such 



species ; while, as we 

 enter the mid-tropical 

 zone of the world, the 

 number of those of 

 large size and those of 

 gaudy coloration great- 

 ly increases. 



In the United States 

 there is an enormous 

 array of butterflies and 

 moths in her fauna, 

 and, as in the case of 

 birds, mammals, and 

 still other groups, they 

 vary with respect to 

 habitats. That is to 

 say ; on the Pacific 

 coast we find members 

 of both groups that do 

 not normally occur in 

 the East, and so on tor 

 our northern and south- 

 ern species. As illus- 

 trative of this, in so far 

 as our large and hand- 

 some moths are con- 

 cerned, it may be point- 

 ed out that, while we 

 have, such species in the 

 East as the big Cecro- 

 pia Moth to which this 

 article will be devoted 

 we likewise have in 

 Arizona the equally 

 large and elegant Orizaba Silk-moth (Rothschildia Ori- 

 zaba). The western limit of the range of the first lies 

 along the eastern margin of the great plains ; while the 

 latter, in so far as the United States is concerned, has 

 not been found beyond the limits of the above named 

 State. Numerous other instances of this kind might 

 easily be cited. 



In the case of the eastern species, the Cecropia Moth 

 is scientifically known as Samia cecropia, while its near 

 relative, the Columbian Silk-moth (Samia Columbia), 

 may be collected over its range which extends from 

 Maine to Wisconsin, southward to the forty-first parallel 

 of latitude. Then there is the dwarfed species, Glover's 



MOTH, 



MAPLE 



