PITCHER PLANTS WHAT ARE THEY? 



353 



Silk-moth (S. gloveri), of Colorado, and the Ceanthus 

 Silk-moth (S. rubra), of the Pacific coast country, east- 

 ward to Wyoming and Utah. Possibly there may be 

 other species discovered and described since 1903, and 

 the fact not have come to my knowledge. 



Many other superb species are, however, to be found 

 inhabiting various other ranges of the country ; they 



represent a num- 

 ber of families 

 and genera, some 

 of them being 

 more or less near- 

 ly related to the 

 Cecropia. Be this 

 as it may, no 

 single species is 

 more abundant or 



FIG. 2 A COCOON OF THE CECROPIA. 

 THE COCOON IS USUALLY A LITTLE 

 MORE ELONGATE THAN THIS, AS SEEN 

 IN FIGURE 3. 



more frequently seen than this same 

 species throughout the Atlantic 

 States ; though, notwithstanding this 

 fact, not one person in a thousand 

 knows it by name. In this connec- 

 tion Doctor Holland says : "This 

 splendid moth, which is very com- 

 mon, is one of a small number of 

 our native silk-moths, which attract more or less atten- 

 tion, and the spring of the year in our museums is always 

 regarded as a period in which a certain portion of time of 

 the entomological staff will be consumed in replying to the 

 letters of persons who, having for once opened their eyes 

 to the wonders of the insect world, have sent in old match 

 boxes through the mails specimens of this insect, generally 

 adding the information that the species is probably 'new 

 to science' or 'excessively rare,' they having for the first 

 time in their lives noticed the moth" (Moth Book, p. 83). 

 Such people as Doctor Holland here describes have 

 never asked themselves the question as to what constitutes 



the chief differences between an average moth and an av- 

 erage butterfly, or how either comes into existence ; yet the 

 answers to such questions are by no means very difficult. 

 Disregarding the few exceptions there may be to the 

 general rule, it may be said that butterflies are diurnal 

 insects by nature, that is, they fly about during the day- 

 time and rest somewhere at night. Just the reverse of 

 this habit pertains to the moths. Some of the latter are, 

 however, diurnal by habit; and there are even a few 

 species of butterflies which occasionally fly about after 

 dark. Such a distinction is by no means definite for the 

 purposes of exactitude and classification ; for, as in the 

 case of all other animals, we must resort to a comparative 

 study of the structure of the forms in question in order 

 to correctly classify them. Often a few structural points 

 are ample for this, that is, to throw them into one or 

 another main group, and such is the case when we desire 

 to determine whether the lepidoptera 

 we have at hand are butterflies or 

 moths. It may be said that the 

 lepidoptera is the order of the Class 

 lnsecta that contains both the moths 

 and the butterflies. 



Nearly everyone knows what the 

 antennae of these insects are. It will 

 be remembered that they are the pair 

 of little structures that project be- 

 yond the head of the insect in front. 

 Now, in the vast majority of in- 



FIG. 3 ANOTHER COCOON OF THE CECRO- 

 PIA; IT IS WOVEN TO A TWIG OF A 

 PINE-TREE, WHICH WILL ACCOUNT FOR 

 ITS BEING DECORATED WITH "NEED- 

 LES." 



stances in butter- 

 flies, these are 

 much longer than 

 they are in moths 

 everything else 

 being equal more 

 slender, with their 



FIG. 4 THE SAME COCOON SHOWN IN 

 FIGURE 3, LONGITUDINALLY CUT OPEN 

 IN ORDER TO EXPOSE THE PUPA INSIDE. 



distal ends enlarged (clubbed). These enlargements may 

 be of an ellipsoidal form, more or less elongated; in 

 some species the extreme distal extremity, of either one, 

 is turned outwards as a little hook. Moths very rarely 

 have such antennae as these; they assume various other 



