The Life History of the Puss-Moth 95 
still oceasionally pressed through the soft material. At ten o'clock next day it was 
quite finished and began to dry, finally becoming as hard as the surrounding bark, 
which it resembled so closely that no ordinary observer would have been able to detect 
its presence. In a week the strange larva had assumed the pupa, in which stage it 
rested in a quiescent state through the winter, until the warmth of spring-time awoke 
it into renewed life, when those mysterious and secret changes commenced and the 
fluid matter began to take definite form and the various organs were differentiated— 
until every hair was perfect. The horn-like covering was stretched to its fullest 
capacity, finally bursting at the suture of the thorax and legs. But before emergence 
could take place the hard cocoon must be pierced. 
As I had never observed this act until last June, I made all arrangements to 
ensure success. I had already bred a number of puss-moths, and noticed that they 
Full-grown Caterpillar. Fig. 5. Puss-Moth emerging from Cocoon. 
Fig. 4. 
emerged between the hours of four and six in the afternoon. I therefore focussed 
a large cocoon formed upon a small willow branch, drew the slide, and with the shutter 
piston between thumb and finger, patiently waited for the appearance of lite stirring 
from within. After watching for three hours I gave up my vigil for the first day, 
resuming it at four o'clock the next afternoon—again without any result. On the 
third day, after watching for two hours I fancied that I could detect a slight 
discoloration on the top end of the cocoon, about the size of a big pin’s head; my 
magnifier confirmed my suspicion, and very slowly the mark increased until it was 
half an inch in diameter. Half an hour after I noticed the centre of the discoloration 
becoming moist, and a tiny fissure appeared, followed by a streak of white hairs, 
which I instantly photographed (Fig. 5), changed my plate, and then, before I could 
put the slide down, I saw a flash of white protrude from the widened fissure, and in 
