7t*> 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except July 
and August. . 
The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois 
Audubon Societies, 
Twenty-five cents per year. Single Copies 3 cts. 
All communications should be sent to Miss Ruth 
Marshall, Appleton, Wis. 
We have long felt that teachers did not real¬ 
ize how interesting and available material for 
nature study may be found among the cat¬ 
erpillars. It is with great pleasure that we 
announce a series of three papers contributed 
by Miss Caroline Gray Soule which will be of 
aid to teachers in their work and to other na¬ 
ture students. Much fuller information and 
pictures of the caterpillars may be found in 
“Caterpillars and Their Moths,” the book writ¬ 
ten jointly by Miss Soule and Miss Ida M. 
Eliot. Editor. 
I. 
Caterpillar-keeping for Schools. 
Caterpillars are so easy to keep and so in¬ 
teresting in their changes that they are well 
adapted to school use. Their chief needs are 
clean homes, fresh food, and shady places. 
Their homes should not be crowded. They do 
not need much air but may be kept in health 
and comfort in closed jar or tin boxes, pro¬ 
vided the boxes are cleaned out daily and not 
allowed to become damp—from wet leaves 
or other cause. 
If the caterpillars are to be in sight all th'e 
time of course glass must be used, and an 
empty aquarium may be fitted with a cover, 
or the large, wide-mouthed jars used by con¬ 
fectioners may be substituted. I do not like 
the plan of earth in the bottom because the 
excrement of the larvae cannot be removed 
as entirely as from a jar which' can be turned 
upside down if necessary. The jar should be 
cleaned once a day and dried if the sides seem 
moist. 
The leaves should be twigs if possible as the 
caterpillars like the twigs to rest on, and 
usually the leaves keep fresher on them. x411 
leaves should be put in water, like flowers, af¬ 
ter tiny are gathered and before they are put 
in the "cage” as we will call the jar or box. 
They should then be dry, not dripping with 
water, but a few drops may be sprinkled on 
.them for the crawlers to drink. 
Th'e cages should never stand in the sun, 
should always be covered to keep the leaves 
from wilting, and the larvae should not be 
handled needlessly. They need no light and 
very little air, plenty of fresh air being given 
when the cages are cleaned. 
Some caterpillars spin cocoons, some bur¬ 
row in the ground to pupate, others spin 
leaves together on the ground or plant and 
pupate between them, and most butterfly-cat¬ 
erpillars suspend themselves on planks, fences, 
houses, or other supports, and there become 
shrvsalids. A few caterpillars burrow into 
soft wood to pupate there. Only a good book 
or experience can tell you which 1 process your 
larvae will go through, unless you know their 
species and have an “authority’ to appeal to 
for information. 
On the hickory trees you may find several 
kinds of beetles and aphids, some of which 
damage th’e trees greatly, the beetle-larvae 
especially as they feed on the fresh tissues 
inside the trunk and branches, or girdle the 
branches thereby killing them. 
For caterpillars there are likely to be Hal- 
esidota caryae, while furry larvae with black 
tuffs, down their backs; Actias luna. a large 
green one with red or yellow raised dots on 
each segment of the body and a transverse yel¬ 
low line on the back of each abdominal seg¬ 
ment; Telea Poly Phemus, much like luna 
but having a pearly V-shaped mark on its 
anal end; these spin cocoons. 
There may be the larger and formidable- 
looking Citherounia regalis, called in the south 
“the horned hickory devil,” green or brown 
with long horns and more or fewer hairs. He 
is also called “th'e regal walnut-tree caterpil¬ 
lar.” This kind goes into the ground to pu¬ 
pate, as do the Datanas which may be present 
in large clusters, clinging to the twigs with 
their abdominal props and holding both ends 
of their bodies in the air and almost meeting 
over their backs. Branches stripped of leaves 
show the presence of the Datanas, Angusii and 
Ministra being the species most likely to be 
found on nut trees. 
There may be several kinds of twig-like, 
looping caterpillars, Catocalas, which burrow 
to transform, and come out beautiful moths 
with' the forewings like lichens and the hind 
wings vivid with bands of yellow, pink, or 
bright red, but sometimes clear black. The 
caterpillars are not what is known as loop- 
ers or geometrids, but closely resemble them 
(Continued on last page). 
