MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



upholds in part my contention in the first chapter, that 

 people attempting to write upon these subjects "are not 

 always rightly informed. " 



When the feeding period is finished in freedom, the 

 caterpillar, if hairless, must be ready to evolve from 

 its interior, the principal part of the winter quarters 

 characteristic of its species while changing to the moth 

 form, and in the case of non-feeders, sustenance for 

 the lifetime of the moth also. Similar to the moth, the 

 caterpillar is made up of three parts, head, thorax, and 

 abdomen, with the organs and appendages of each. 

 Immediately after moulting the head appears very large, 

 and seems m.uch too heavy for the size of the body. At 

 the end of a feeding period and just previous to another 

 moult the body has grown until the head is almost lost 

 from sight, and it now seems small and insignificant; so 

 that the appearance of a caterpillar depends on whether 

 you examine it before or after moulting. 



The head is made up of rings or segments, the same as 

 the body, but they are so closely set that it seems to be a 

 flat, round, or pointed formation with discernible rings 

 on the face before casting time. The eyes are of so sim- 

 ple form that they are supposed only to distinguish hght 

 from darkness. The complicated mouth is at the lower 

 part of the head. It carries a heavy pair of cutters with 

 which the caterpillar bites off large pieces of leaf, a first 

 pair of grinders with which it macerates the food, and a 



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