228 A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS. 
tration of the characters of the perfect insect, and presents 
easy characters by which to distinguish the minor groups; 
and the relative rank of the higher divisions will only be 
definitely settled when their forms and methods of transform- 
ation are thoroughly known. ‘Thus, for example, in two 
groups of the large Attacus-like moths, which are so amply 
illustrated in Dr. Harris's "Treatise on Insects Injurious to 
Vegetation ;" if we take the different forms of the caterpillars 
of the Tau moth of Europe, which are figured by Godart and 
Duponchel, we find that the very young larva has four horn- 
like processes on the front, and four on the back part of the 
body. The full grown larva of the Regalis moth, of the 
Southern states, is very similarly ornamented. It is an em- 
bryonie form, and therefore inferior in rank to the Tau moth. 
Multiply these horns over the surface of the body, lessen 
their size, and crown them with hairs, and we have our Io 
moth, so destructive to corn. Now take off the hairs, elong- 
ating and thinning out the tubercles, and make up the loss by 
the inereased size of the worm, and we have the caterpillar 
of our common Cecropia moth. Again, remove the nake 
tubercles almost wholly, smooth off the surface of the body, 
and contract its length, thus giving a greater convexity and 
angularity to the rings, and we have before us the larva of 
the stately Luna moth that tops this royal family. Here are 
certain criteria for placing these insects before our minds in 
the order that nature has placed them. We have here cer- 
tain faets for determining which of these three insects is 
highest and which lowest in the scale, when we see the larva 
of the Luna moth throwing off successively the Io and Ce- 
cropia forms to take on its own higher features. So that 
there is a meaning in all this shifting of insect toggery. 
This is but an example of the many ways in which both 
pleasure and mental profit may be realized from the 
thoughtful study of caterpillar life. — 
In collecting butterflies and moths for cabinet specimens, 
one needs a gauze net a foot and half deep, with the wire 
