330 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
The Attacus Cecropia. 
BY A. W. ROBERTS. 
NE day, when wandering through 
the woods near the Cypress 
Hills Cemetery, I discovered a 
hedge-row of elderberry bushes 
on which were feeding many hundreds of 
young caterpillars of the Attacus Cecrojna 
moth. Having my botanical coUectiug 
case with me, I filled it with leaves on 
Fig. 1. 
which the caterpillars were feeding. At 
the time I write of I lived in Brooklyn, 
opposite the Capitoline Grounds. In 
these grounds, along the fencing, flour- 
ished numerous elderberry bushes. Now, 
here was an unusual chance to study the 
haljits and transformations of this ver.y 
beautiful creature, the Attacus cecropia 
moth, so I determined to start a cocoonery 
in my back yard by supplying these 
many hundred squirming pets of mine 
with a bountiful supply of fresh food 
every day from the Capitoline Grounds. 
First I captured all the glass preserving 
jars in the cellar. These were placed 
closely together in a long row; they 
were then filled with water, and into each 
jar was crowded numbers of medium- 
sized branches of the elder. When the 
caterpillars were com- 
fortably established in 
their new home, I felt 
well rewarded for all 
the trouble I had 
taken. It would have 
done your heart good 
to see them xjitch into 
tbe fresh and tender 
leaves of the elder. By 
placing my ear to the 
end of the fire-board 
on which the water 
jars stood, the hun- 
dreds of crunching 
jaws of these beautiful 
worms could be dis- 
tinctly heard as they 
mowed down the suc- 
culent elder leaves. 
But, alas, trouble and 
danger came in the 
shape of a small and 
vicious looking wasp- 
shaped fly. I bad 
often noticed numbers 
of these creatures hov- 
ering over and about 
my silk- worm estab- 
lishment, and I began 
to fear that they were 
up to mischief of some 
sort. At last I caught 
one in the very act ; I 
saw him dart down on 
one of the worms, touch him with his 
abdomen but for an instant, and then 
fly off. The caterpillar jerked his head 
backward to his side, as if in intense 
pain, at the same time drawing his 
body up to its smallest compass. Pres-^ 
entlv another and another worm was 
struck by these villainous ichneumon 
