86 
NATURE STUDY. 
or two more moults before spinning cocoons. They fin¬ 
ally spin their cocoons in situations similar to those se¬ 
lected by the males, and change into brown chrysalids. 
About a fortnight after the caterpillars pupate, they again 
transform and emerge as moths. The two sexes of these 
differ greatly: the males have wings, well developed feath¬ 
ery antennae, and the front legs furnished with hair. The 
females are wingless, very different in appearance from the 
males. They cannot fly ; after emerging from the pupa, 
each one crawls upon the top of the cocoon where she de¬ 
posits her eggs in a single mass and soon dies. 
In the most northern states there is usually but one brood 
of these tussock caterpillars each year. These mature 
about midsummer, spin cocoons, and late in July, or early 
in August, mature into moths. The eggs are at once de¬ 
posited to remain unhatched until the following spring. 
Farther south there are two broods each season. 
III. couuecting IN AUTUMN. 
Eate in autumn and especially early in spring, a great 
variety of insects may be taken under boards, sticks, stones 
• and other things lying upon the surface of the ground. 
During the first warm days of the season, when the frost 
is bartly out of the ground, a great variety of hibernating 
beetles, and some other insects may thus be found. For 
collecting small beetles especially, the method is excellent, 
as the tiny creatures congregate upon the dry, under sur¬ 
face of the board which may be turned over and examined 
at leisure. A vial of alcohol into which to drop the speci¬ 
mens, and a camel’s hair brush to pick the small ones up 
with are needed in this work. A cyanide bottle and a pair 
of forceps are desirable for larger specimens and those that 
it is not desired to put in alcohol. 
The hibernating adults are not the only insects to be 
