MOSQUITOES, SILKIVORMS, AND DRAGON-FLIES 



19 



The moths will soon pair, and the females will begin 

 laying eggs at about the end of the first day. Each 

 female will lay about 300 eggs. Provide small pieces of 

 cloth ; place the moths on the cloths and the eggs will 

 be laid on them. After laying the eggs the moths soon 

 die. They take no food at all, indeed their mouth-parts 



Fig. 9. — The larva of the viulet-tip butterfly. Polygonia inUrrogationis, 

 making its last moult, i.e., pupating. (Photograph from life, by the 

 author.) 



are incomplete and not able to suck flower nectar which 

 is the usual food of moths and butterflies. The pieces of 

 cloth covered with eggs should be put away in a closed 

 box and kept in a fairly cool place until the following 

 spring. When the mulberry leaves appear again, lay out 

 the egg-cloths in trays in a warm bright room. In a 

 few days the hatching will begin, and with it a new life- 

 cycle. 



