October, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



239 



Then there is another form — hairy caterpillars — which 

 construct the cocoon largely from their own hair, usually 

 under some object on or near the ground. The third form 

 suspend themselves, sometimes head downward, by a few 

 silken threads, sometimes by a small mass of threads from 

 the tail only, sometimes head up, with the same kind of tail 

 support, reinforced by a single band about the waist. In this 

 position they undergo simply a transformation in form, be- 

 coming chrysalids. When the proper time 

 comes the back skin splits and the butterfly 

 emerges. 



The class of caterpillars is also naked, 

 and the complete transformation from cater- 

 pillar to butterfly may not occupy more than 

 a few weeks. In these transformations many 

 of the insects die. Some are too weak to 

 effect the transformation; some are attacked 

 by the ichneumon-fly, or other parasitical 

 enemy. The ichneumon-fly stings the chrys- 

 alid or pupa and deposits an egg, which 

 hatches in the body of the host. The devel- 

 oping larva eats away the substance of the 

 pupa when, gnawing his way through the 

 skin, he emerges a perfect ichneumon-fly. 

 Thus the chrysalid of the milkweed-butterfly 

 that we find may seem, at a glance, to be all 

 right, but observe the hole in the side. That 

 is where the newly born ichneumon-fly came 

 forth. Again, the novice can not always tell 

 whether the silky cocoons that he finds in 

 winter, hanging to the twigs of the bushes, 

 contain living germs of the cecropia, poly- 

 phemus, or prometheus moths, or only black, 

 skeleton-like relics of the caterpillars' forms. Time will tell. 



The thought of study or drudgery soon passes out of these 

 pursuits. The observer admires the new and the beautiful 

 as does the visitor to a flower-garden. He takes home from 

 his winter-ramble the deserted summer home of some bird, 

 speculating on the identity of its original owner, and wonder- 

 ing at the marvelous architecture, or the cocoons of a colony 

 of Cvnthia moths from the chokecherrv-bush, and the next 



From the Mummy-cradle 



Slowly Emerges the Moth with 



Folded, Crumpled Wings 



foliage on which it is feeding. He supplies it with a wire 

 screen cage, earth in the bottom, and a bottle of water to hold 

 the leaves, gathered fresh, each day, and with the pleasure of 

 an original discoverer, he watches the little creature's de- 

 velopment. 



Most insects are short-lived beings. In the mature state 

 very many of them live only long enough to insure the repro- 

 duction of their kind. During one period or another of in- 

 sect existence a few species are beneficial to 

 man, as the bees which furnish honey 

 and fertilize the flowers, and certain pre- 

 dacious insects which prey upon noxious 

 species, and very many are harmful, consum- 

 ing or destroying various tonus of vegeta- 

 tion. To one seeking a harmless, and at the 

 same time instructive "fad," insect-collecting 

 within reasonable bounds, can be recom- 

 mended with free conscience, from the hu- 

 manitarian standpoint, because the life is 

 destroyed but very little before the allotted 

 time; from the economic standpoint, because 

 the sum total of the destruction of the in- 

 sects involved will be beneficial to man. 



When the observer of nature goes afield 

 with the camera, there are thousands of 

 beautiful little phenomena that claim his 

 attention, which otherwise might pass un- 

 noticed. The katydid and the grasshopper 

 on the weed and bush stalks, the dainty 

 thistle and milkweed-down, whose seeds the 

 trim little goldfinches eagerly harvest, the 

 solemn toad, whose big, twinkling eyes are 

 ever alert for unwary insects; the toadstool, 

 which ignorant belief formerly gave the function of a toad's 

 seat, and which figures so prominently in fairy-tales. Just be- 

 yond the big clump of purple asters, where the rustic bridge 

 spans the quiet pool, the frogs in guttural tone invite the ama- 

 teur photographer to essay their portraits. Among the dead 

 leaves on the bank, a belated turtle hustles away to select his 

 winter resort. Spangled with dew, the cart-wheel web of the 

 spider gleams, while in the twigs of the stunted cedar hangs 



The Toadstool to Which Ignorant Belief Once 

 Assigned the Function of a Toad's Seat 



StilfAnother Form of Hairy Caterpillar 

 On its Feeding-ground 



summer watches with delight the marvelous transformation, 

 when from these mummy-wrappings slowly emerge the 

 moths, with folded, crumpled wings, soon to unfold and 

 spread their glories to the admiring gaze. Then the pursuit 

 becomes interesting. The investigator takes home some 

 summer's day a caterpillar with some of the weed or tree- 



the storm-battered home of the paper-wasp. If instead of fall 

 it be spring, unfolding fronds of fern, and innocent-eyed blue 

 violets delight the gaze. At whatsoever season, wander with 

 eyes and ears really open in the weed-fields, those tracts 

 despised by man, and manifestations of life, most wonderful 

 and interesting, greet you on every hand. You make the 



