122 



Bulletin 76 



THE COCOON 



Having chosen a suitable location, such as under the edges of the claf)-- 

 boards of a house, which is a favorite place, or some corner or angle made 

 by the outside boarding of a building, or, if in a grove, on the underbrush, 

 the cocoon is spun. If it is located on a shrub, it is almost always protected 

 by one or two leaves is in figure 4. The cocoons are quite variable in size, 

 but an average one is from an inch to an inch and a half long and half as 



thick. The outside of the 

 cocoon is light yellow and is 

 coated with a yellow paste 

 which soon dries to a pow- 

 der. The inside, like that 

 of all cocoons, is very com- 

 pact, but the outside is quite 

 loosely made, and with the 

 silk fibers there are often in- 

 FIGURE 4. COCOON OF FOREST CATERPIi<i,AR term ingled Some of the hairs 

 WRAPPED IN A M APLE LE AF gf the caterpillar. The coro- 



A ter W eed p^^^,^ parchment-like inner 



portion is so made by a thick fluid which fills the spaces between the 

 thread and hardens. Three days after it has finished the cocoon the cater- 

 pillar molts for the fifth and last time and changes to a brown pupa, or 

 chrysalis, about three fourths of an inch long. Its color varies consider- 

 ably. I have seen some which were very light brown, but more which 

 were dark brown or chestnut. The cocoons are not usually formed here 

 before the first of June and most of them not till a week later. 



THE MOTH 



The perfect insect or moth appears about two weeks after the cocoon is 

 finished. If the cocoon is completed about the middle of June, which is 

 the average time here, the moth emerges the first of July. All do not appear 

 at once, but they come out from time to time for a week or more and are 

 seen fiying from the first of July until October. The form and marking of 

 the moths may be seen in figures 7 and 8 and especially in plate II 

 which shows not only the customary appearance of the moth, but several 

 varieties. 



The female moth (second row, right hand moth third row, plate II) is 

 much larger than her mate (upper and two lower rows and two left hand 

 in third row, plate II. ) There is some variation in size, but usually the 

 female is not far from an inch and three fourths across the expanded wings, 

 while the male is only an inch and a quarter or less. The wings are also 



