
June, 1886. ] 
ent kinds of foods, and they will get on well if 
the food is kept fresh and their life condition kept 
as natural as possible. 
To procure the best results in moth raising the 
caterpillars must be fed upon their preferred food 
plant and kept feeding, with only brief fasts in 
the moulting seasons, until they spin their co- 
coons. 
The Cecropia moth that has matured upon 
wild cherry is not the equal in size or beauty of 
the moth fed upon apple foliage. It is weaker in 
color of plumage, and the contrasts in the color- 
ing of the wings are much less decided. 
The Polyphemus moth that is nourished upon 
fern fronds is usually of the lightest fawn color, 
the least attractive and most dwarfed of this 
race of lepidopterous giants, while that fed 
upon oak leaves takes on a reddish hue that 
gives it brilliancy at the expense of size. The 
largest moths of this class that I have ever seen 
were raised upon wild cherry; but I believe that 
the best plumaged were the result of oak-feeding. 
These experiments prove entertaining and can 
be easily tried by raisers of larvee of any kind. 
—<—___<>__- 
‘¢Sembling.”’ 
MES a AN Wie. wee 
Among lepidopterus insects the power of the 
virgin female to attract the males is marvellous 
and little understood by the most experienced 
moth and butterfly collectors, for she sits quietly, 
making no sound, and there is no perceptible 
odor by which the phenomena may be explained. 
Nevertheless, it is a fact, and out of it grew the 
practice known to lepidopterists as ‘‘sembling,” 
or attracting butterflies and moths. Hence, the 
finding of a virgin female of a rare species is of 
exceptional consequence to the collector, who, in- 
stead of putting her to death, carefully preserves 
her, and placing her in a gauze bag or cage uses 
her as a decoy for males of her own species, 
which are attracted by her wiles, in large num- 
bers. 
I have practiced this art more or less in the 
past twelve years and have learned something 
from it. Residing in the center of a city, I must 
be from one to two miles from the feeding 
grounds of these moths. Just after mid-day of 
June 5th, 1882, I found upon a fence a female of 
the Callosamia promethea moth of Drury. I had 
no sooner captured her than I saw a male ap- 
proaching; and while I stood with her in my 
hand four male moths congregated about me, cir- 
culating over my head and now and then lit 
upon my clothing. I took the moth home and 
AND OOLOGIST. 
95 

placed her in a gauze cage near an attic window. 
Between 2 and 3 o’clock on the afternoon of the 
6th, the male moths began to appear, and with 
net in hand I captured sixty males in two hours 
and then stopped because I had taken enough, 
not because the arrivals lessened. Tie males 
were flying about the yard in considerable num- 
bers until night fall. 
T have had similar experiences with Zelea poly- 
phemus, Samia cecropia, Attacus luna and Sat- 
urnia Lo. 
A virgin female of the Corn Emperor moth 
(Saturnia Io), owned by a friend, attracted to his 
house twenty-eight males in June, 1880, all of 
which were captured in good condition, in the 
space of an hour. 
This practice satisfies me that Callosamia pro- 
methea is a day flier, as it invariably comes in 
“sembling” before 3 o’clock in the afternoon; and 
this moth flies in largest numbers. Samia cecrop- 
ia and Telea polyphemus come shortly after dark, 
and quite plentifully, while Attacws luna seldom 
approaches the trap till midnight, or later. 
Any one wishing to test the power of the 
female insect may do so in the summer months 
ond satisfy themselves that facts are often stranger 
than fiction. 
—__>_ -———_ 
Ecpantheria Scribonia. 
BY CYANIDE. 
This beautiful leopard moth, though rare here, 
is not uncommon in some sections of the country. 
In the winter of 1880-81, I found the remains 
of many cocoons while collecting on and near the 
Lake of the Thousand Islands, on the St. Law- 
rence River. As soon as the snow was off the 
ground, I tried sugaring on the edge of a grove 
and as I turned my lantern toward a pine tree I 
noticed a large wooly bear ascending the trunk 
very rapidly. I, of course captured him, and 
finding it too early to meet with much success 
sugaring, I turned my attention to the pine trees 
Between 9 and 10 o’clock that night I took seven 
full grown larvee of this moth. I kept some of 
them and a friend took the rest. In a few days 
they spun their cocoons and soon developed as 
perfect flies. My specimens invariably left their 
cocoons in the night and in a short time were in 
active flight around the box in which they were 
confined. I consequently found it very difficult 
to save them in a perfect condition. I either had 
to take my chances of their wings being injured 
or kill them before they were dry enough to 
mount without staining the plumage. 
I afterwards found some of the cocoons in the 
crevices of the bark of pine trees. 
