108 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



a curved white and black line, and near their apex is a 

 black eye-spot with a bluish crescent in it, and a shade of 

 lilac above. 



The American silk-worm, Telea polyphemus, is our best 

 native silk-producing species. Each female lays from two 

 to three hundred eggs, which are about one sixteenth of an 

 inch in diameter, slightly convex* on the top and bottom, 

 the convex portions whitish, and the nearly cylindrical 

 sides brown. These hatch in from ten to twelve days. 

 The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of oak, elm, etc., and 

 when full-grown is over three inches long, of a light-green 

 color, with seven oblique yellow lines on each side, and the 

 tubercles on the segments orange with a silvery spot on the 

 middle. The last segment is bordered by a purplish brown 

 V-shaped mark. It spins a whitish oval cocoon, which 

 often falls to the ground, where the insect remains during 

 the winter in the pupa state. 



Those especially interested are referred to the articles of 

 Mr. Trouvelot (American Naturalist, 1867), for his expe- 

 rience and experiments in obtaining the silk, and in rear- 

 ing the American silk-worms. 



LEADERS. 



Anglers, now as ever, are continually theorizing and 

 speculating as to the most suitable colors for leaders, in 

 order to render them as little discernible to the fish as pos- 

 sible. Many experiments to this end have been made by 

 using aquaria, or glass tanks especially constructed, or by 

 the experimenter putting his head beneath the surface of 

 the water, in order to view the leader through the same 

 medium as the fish. 



But the praiseworthy experiments to determine the color 



