14 A FIELD GUIDE IN NATURE-STUDY 



Was the cabbage-butterfly larva at all hard to find ? What other larvae 

 are green and what advantage does this color give them ? 



Are bees and wasps easy to find ? What other animals that are abun- 

 dantly able to care for themselves are also conspicuously colored ? Is the 

 tussock-moth larva brightly colored ? Do birds eat it ? Feed the brightly 

 colored larvae of a milkweed butterfly to chickens. Will they eat it? 

 Would you judge the milkweed butterfly to be palatable? What other 

 larvae besides that of the tussock moth do you know to be hairy ? Is there 

 any evidence that these hairs are irritating to the skin ? 



Look at specimens of the walking-stick beetle in the school museum; 

 of the anglewing butterfly on the dead leaves; and specimens of several 

 moths on pieces of bark in cases to show protective colors. The red- 

 spotted purple and viceroy butterflies are closely related, both belonging 

 to the same genus. The viceroy butterfly looks much like another common 

 butterfly to which it is only distantly related. Which is this? Might 

 this resemblance possibly profit the viceroy ? Why is the bumblebee moth 

 so named ? Which animal profits by the resemblance ? Of these several 

 examples given which would you classify under protective coloration? 

 warning coloration ? mimicry ? 



House fly. Obtain some manure, or some refuse from the kitchen and 

 put an inch of this material in the bottom of a jelly tumbler. Capture 

 several house flies and put them in the tumbler, covering the latter with a 

 piece of cheesecloth held on by a string or rubber band. See if you can 

 observe the flies laying their eggs. How many are laid ? In a short time, 

 probably, larvae will appear. Likely some of these will crawl down next 

 to the glass when they pupate. How long is it before young flies appear ? 

 Fruit flies found in and about baskets of grapes or peaches may readily be 

 bred if several are put in a test tube with a piece of fully ripe banana, 

 plugging the top of the tube with a piece of absorbent cotton. The flies 

 are small, but the stages in the life-history show plainly and they occupy 

 little room. Locate in the block in which you live places where fly larvae 

 or maggots are found. Any collection of decomposing matter is likely to 

 contain them. Manure piles, garbage cans, lawn clippings, and garden 

 refuse are likely places, and they may be found in heaps of rags, under bits 

 of paper or oilcloth, or almost anywhere where the larvae can keep moist. 

 On the opposite page draw a map of the block in which you live and show 

 on it by red dots where you find the house fly breeding. 



Rate of reproduction. Look up data in regard to the rate of propagation 

 of the fly. How many generations may there be in a single summer ? 

 How many eggs does the female lay? How long does it ordinarily take 

 from the time the eggs are laid until the adult flies are grown? Starting 



