STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
447 
adhere securely to the cocoon and to each other. They are ex¬ 
truded in a continuous string, which is folded and matted 
together so as to form an irregular mass. I once pierced one of 
these females with a pin while she was in the act of depositing 
her eggs; and so tenaciously did she adhere to them that for a 
time it was uncertain whether the body would not tear asunder 
before it would separate from the string. Within a day or two 
after she comes out of the cocoon the female has completed her 
labors. Her body which was at first plump, swollen and un¬ 
wieldy, is now shrunken and flaccid, and she is so exhausted 
that she soon lets go her foothold, falls to the ground and per¬ 
ishes. The designs of nature in giving to these insects the 
habits which they possess are very evident Having no wings by 
which to escape when menaced with danger, were these worm¬ 
like females to crawl about the limbs and trunk of the tree, as 
the canker worms are accustomed to do, their pale gray bodies 
would cause them to be discovered and devoured by birds. The 
canker worm runs no risk of this kind, as it makes its ascent in the 
winter and early spring when the birds are all absent upon their 
migration to a warmer climate. The vaporer moth, coming out 
in August, by remaining stationary upon its light colored cocoon, 
is but little liable to be noticed. Still, there being even here 
some risk of its discovery, it hastens to fulfill the purpose of 
its existence immediately upon coming out of its cocoon, lest 
some mishap should befall it if it were to remain longer in this 
exposed situation. 
The white frothy matter with which the eggs are covered be¬ 
comes dry and hard and impervious to wet, thus protecting them 
through all the storms and vicissitudes of autumn, winter and 
spring. Nor will a bird be inclined to pick off and devour these 
eggs with this foam and the hairs of the cocoon adhering to them. 
They are thus shielded from harm although placed in such an 
exposed situation, until the return of warm weather brings out 
a crop of leaves for the subsistence of the worms; whereupon 
they hatch from the eggs, early in May, and grow up till they 
become the gay caterpillars which we first noticed above. 
But though the vaporer moth is able to guard itself and its 
progeny from destruction in several directions, it is not thus 
