THE ( MtlRISt. 9, 



Eiirly in June — or if the cocoon is kept in a warm room, many weeks 

 before this — a marveUousIy beautiful moth issues from this snug en- 

 ck^sure. When the time has come for its escape, the shelly structure 

 of its prison -liouse is rent, split- open along the back, and at once rest- 

 less movements begin within; the struggling creature as it tries to free 

 itself, making a scratching noise as it tears away the silken bars which 

 stand between it and the outer world, and this noise can be distinctly 

 heanl at some distance from the object. At this juncture a fluid is 

 secreted from the mouth of the insect which so softens the silk as to 

 make the escape of the moth a comparatively easy matter, while with- 

 out this wise provision it might remain in its cell and exhaust itself in 

 fruitless efforts to get out. Presently the fore legs appear, thrust out 

 of the upper end of the cocoon, then the head crowned with its beautiful 

 feathei'-like antennae; and very soon a heavy looking object with a large 

 plump body and soft clumsy little wings is drawn slowly out of the 

 orihce, and stands before you in the free air. 



The first care of the moth is to place itself in sucli a position that 

 its wings may hang downwards, the only favourable posture for their 

 proper development, then a rapid process of growth or expansion begins, 

 resulting in full maturity in about half an hour, during which time 

 the wings enlarge from tlie size of an ordinary humble bee until they 

 rueasure from five to six inches across. 



This magnificent creature is nicely represented in Fig. 2. Both front 

 and hind wings are of a rich brown; the anterior pair greyish, shaded 

 with red, while the posterior are more uniformly brown; about the' 

 middle of each of the wings there is a nearly kidney-shaped white 

 spot, shaded more or less with red, and- margined with black. A wavy 

 dull red band crosses each of the wings, bordered within on the front 

 winf^s, more or less faintly with white, wliile on the hind pair the band 

 is widely and clearly margined with the same colour. The outer 

 edges of the wings are of a pale silky brown, in which, on the anterior 

 pair, runs an irregular black line which on the hind wings is replaced 

 by a narrow, donble broken band of the same hue. The front wings 

 next to the shoulders are dull red with a curved white and black band, 

 varying in distinctness in different specimens, and near their tips there 

 is an eye-like black spot witli a bluish-white crescent. The upper side 

 of the body and the legs are dull red, with a wide band behind the head. 



