THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 35 
worm-like appearance ; the abdomen contains the fluids 
which flow to the wings. 
When the still immature moth has found a suitable place; 
it remains quiet for a few minutes, and then the wings aré 
seen to grow very rapidly by the afflux of the fluids from 
the abdomen, In about twenty minutes the wings attain — 
their full size, but they are still like a piece of wet cloth, 
without consistency and firmness, and as yet entirely unfit 
for flight, but after one or two hours they become suffi- 
ciently stiff, assuming the beautiful form characteristic of 
the species. If, while the Wings are growing, they aré 
prevented from spreading by some agency, they will be 
deformed forever. Sometimes when the wings are devel- 
oping, the afflux of liquid is so great, that some parts of 
the wing swell up considerably, and if one of these swel- 
lings be opened with a pin and the sac emptied a singular 
phenomenon will result ; the wing which has lost so much 
of its fluids will be smaller than the others, and sometimes 
it will retain the normal form of the wing, only being 
smaller, while the wound can be detected only on very 
close observation. I have in my cabinet a perfect speci- 
men of such an insect; naturalists would eye it as a 
monstrosity. 
The moth remains quiet ali day, andl sometimes all 
night and the following day, if the night be cold; but if 
it be warm and pleasant, at dusk or about eight o’clock, a 
trembling of the wings is observed for a few minutes and 
then it takes its flight, making three or four circles in the 
air. The male flies only a few minutes, and then rests 
for two or three hours in the same place, not making any 
motion. It is worthy of notice that. the place of rest is 
always the extremity of an oak leaf. Why he remains there 
so long I could not ascertain. The female continues to fly 
