THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 93 
the smallest, but among the intermediate ones. When 
properly selected, they should be placed beyond the reach 
of rats or mice, in boxes, baskets or bags. The boxes 
should be stored in a cold, dry room, or cellar, where the 
temperature does not get above forty-five degrees, for if 
the temperature be higher, they will be liable to hatch 
before winter. While the temperature should not go 
above forty-five degrees, it can descend indefinitely with- 
out injury to the pupa. 
Hatching out of the Moth. Towards the end of May, in 
the latitude of Boston, the temperature sometimes reaches 
seventy degrees. I have said above, that a heat of fifty 
or fifty-five degrees continued for some time, is sufficient 
to put in activity the causes which transform the pupa to 
perfect insects. So about the middle of May, the cocoons 
should be taken out of the cellar and put into the hatching 
room, as the time approaches when the perfect insect will 
appear out of its prison. Tables or shelves should be placed 
in the hatching-room to lay the cocoons upon. Theyshould 
be spread out, and not piled one upon the other, as the 
insect in coming out would get to the surface with diffi- 
culty. Over the tables or shelves where the cocoons are 
placed, should be hung pieces of cloth, or net, to which 
-the insect can easily attach its hooks, for the purpose 
of all llowing its wings to develope. The perfect insect 
rarely comes out before noon, and very few after five 
o'clock in the afternoon. One should watch the process 
of exclusion, in order to help the insects when they do 
not readily find the net, or cloth to cling to, and also to 
remove those which disturb others whose wings are al- 
ready expanding. The rays of the sun abould not fall 
directly upon the cocoons, as the heat would cause a rapid 
evaporation, which would certainly kill the chrysalis. 
