354 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



forms, and these differ for the sexes. Some resemble 

 a beautiful little feather; some are thread-like, or they 

 may be prismatic in shape. As in certain butterflies, they 

 may also be hooked at their ends. Many modifications 

 of these patterns are to be met with and as a rule they 

 are highly distinctive. Then the wings of butterflies are 

 usually held erect, while those of moths lie flat when 

 the insect is at rest. 



The caterpillar of the Cecropia moth shown in Figure 

 I is a very handsome creature. Like the caterpillar or 

 larva of many another large American moth, it is of a 

 brilliant green color. Several of the anterior segments 

 are retractile, having ornamental outgrowths upon them 

 those on the three leading segments being beautiful 

 little knobs of bright blue, roughened on their superficies 



place of the pupa during its dormant stage. (Fig. 4.) 

 By no means does the larva of the Cecropia moth 

 weave its cocoon on the twigs of a tree or shrub, upon 

 the leaves of which it fed in the caterpillar stage. It is 

 very difficult to tell what induces it to make the strange 

 choices we sometimes see. On one occasion, dozens of 

 them were on twigs of the alders that grew along the 

 banks of a stream ; at another time, thirty or forty were 

 found in a big pine-tree. So, when the cocoon was 

 woven, many of the pine needles were incorporated into 

 the outer silken fabric of the case. (Figs. 3 and 4.) 

 Possibly the head of the future moth may always point 

 towards the ground as it does in Figure 4 ; but we have 

 not sufficient data on this point to warrant a positive state- 

 ment being made in regard to it. Often, at the abdominal 



FIG. 5 AN UNUSUALLY HANDSOME FEMALE CECROPIA MOTH, RESTING ON ITS COCOON AND VIEWED DIRECTLY FROM 



. ABOVE. 



by minute projections. These caterpillars generally feed 

 on plants of the rose family, although they are also 

 partial to maples, the willow tree, and lilac bushes. My 

 photograph of one of them is on the twig of a maple 

 tree, and given in the very attitude in which he was 

 discovered. 



Nearly everybody is familiar with the appearance of 

 the cocoon that this big green caterpillar spins; but 

 should it be otherwise with any one, a fine example of 

 one is here reproduced in Figure 2. The moth shown in 

 Figures 5 and 6 emerged from this cocoon after it had 

 lain on my study table for two or three months. Its 

 outside coat is very tough and extremely dense ; within 

 there is a silky, loose layer, w.hich may be half an inch 

 or more in thickness, the outer layer being very thin. 

 Then, finally, comes the inner, tough case, with its 

 smooth, shiny inner surface, which is the resting 



end of the pupa within the cocoon, may be found some 

 dried and skinny remains of the larva or caterpillar, 

 shed by it as it passed to the pupa stage. These remains 

 are also seen in Figure 4, where the dark elliptical area 

 to the left of the pupa is the shiny lining of the innermost 

 case. There being much yellow in its coloration, it 

 naturally photographed nearly black. 



As an antenna of a male Cecropia moth is like a deli- 

 cate little tan-colored feather this being reduced in the 

 female to a mere thread-like spine, flexible and soft we 

 can readily tell the sex of the coming moth in Figure 4, 

 as that part of the case containing the left antenna is in 

 plain view, and its feather-like form can be discerned. 



A good example of the antennas in a female Cecropia 

 moth may be seen in Figure 6 of this article, where, too, 

 is to be noted the enormous body of this example of the 

 sex, it being due to the great mass of eggs it contains. In 



