1226 The Zoologist— June, 1868. 



In 1860, after having tested the qualities of the cocoons of the 

 different species of American silk-worms, I endeavoured to accumulate 

 a large number of the cocoons of the Polyphemus moth, for the future 

 propagation of the species. At first the undertaking seemed very 

 simple; but who will ever know the difficulties, the hardships and 

 discouragements which I encountered ! This worm having never been 

 cultivated, of course its habits were entirely unknown, though all 

 success in my undertaking depended very much upon that knowledge : 

 however, I was not discouraged by the difficulties of the task. The 

 first year 1 found only two caterpillars : the chance of their being each 

 a male and female was very small, and it was another question whether 

 the two sexes would come out of the cocoon at about the same time 

 for the fecundation of the eggs. So success was very doubtful. Spring 

 came, and with it one of the perfect insects: it was a male; one, two, 

 three days elapsed, my poor male was half dead, the wings half broken, 

 the other cocoon was not giving any signs of an early appearance : 

 imagine my anxiety ; it was a year lost. The male died on the sixth 

 clay. The other moth came out more than a fortnight after: it was a 

 male also. During the summer of 1861 I found a dozen worms, 

 knowing then a little about their habits. In the spring of 1862 I was 

 fortunate enough to have a pair of these insects that came out of the 

 cocoon at the proper time, and 1 obtained from their union three 

 hundred fecundated eggs. The pair which gave me these eggs were 

 the originators of the large number which I have cultivated since. 

 Of these three hundred worms I lost a great many, not knowing their 

 wants, but I succeeded in obtaining twenty cocoons in the autumn. 

 It was only in 1865 that I became expert in cultivating them, and in 

 that year not less than a million could be seen feeding in the open air 

 upon bushes covered wilh a net : five acres of woodland were swarming 

 with caterpillar life. 



Natural History of Telfa Polyphemus. — Early in summer the 

 chrysalis of Polyphemus, which has been for eight or nine months 

 imprisoned in its cocoon, begins to awaken from its long torpor, and 

 signs of life are manifested by the rapid motion of its abdomen. In 

 the latitude of Boston the earliest date at which I have seen a perfect 

 insect is the 20th of May : from this time until the middle of July the 

 moths continue to come out of the cocoons. 'J 'he cocoon being per- 

 fectly closed, and a hard gummy, resinous substance uniting its silken 

 fibres firmly together, it is quite hard for the insect to open it, as it 

 has no teeth nor instrument of any kind to cut through it, and the 



