December, 1917 
FOREST AND S T REA M 
607 
able to have a room for rearing purposes, 
the moths may be allowed to fly around 
free from confinement. If a male and fe¬ 
male of the same species emerge at about 
the same time, they will usually mate with¬ 
out any difficulty. After the completion of 
this function, the male soon dies, and the 
female immediately begins to deposit eggs. 
It lays several hundred in the course of a 
few nights, and then dies too, neither sex 
living more than a week or ten days. In 
case a female, or females, alone may 
emerge from the cocoon, if the eggs are to 
be fertile, a mate must be secured. This is 
done by exposing the female out of doors, 
either in a screen box, with large inter¬ 
stices, or else securing her by tieing a 
length of woolen yarn about her “waist,” 
the other end of the yarn being made fast 
to prevent her escape. The former method 
is preferable, as bats and birds are fond 
of a tender 
moth. If you 
place the cap- 
t i v e moth 
outside the 
window, b e 
sure that it 
is on the side 
of the house 
opposite to the di¬ 
rection in which the 
wind is blowing, so 
that the scent may 
be carried farthest 
and be most likely 
to attract a mate. Usually, if 
your attempt is successful, the 
evidence will be found in the 
presence of the male in the 
morning. 
The fertile female moth 
should be placed in a paste¬ 
board box with a cover, such 
as a shoe box, where it will 
“get busy” and plaster every 
available place with eggs, at 
the same time battering its 
beautiful wings pitifully. As 
soon as all the eggs of a moth 
have been deposited, on the 
sides, bottom, and cover of 
the box, with a sharp knife 
remove them on a little bit of 
the paper. Be very careful 
not to crack the hard, shiny shells, as they 
will thus be spoiled. Put the eggs, thus 
removed, into tight tin boxes, or glass jars 
(Mason jars) and put the covers on tight¬ 
ly, unless you wish to find wandering baby 
caterpillars, looking for “something good,” 
scattering over the neighborhood At all 
times, but especially when they are small, 
should tight receptacles for your worms be 
supplied, as they will go through a pin¬ 
hole, with several feet to spare in every 
direction, for they are great roamers. 
T HE hatching period may be as short 
as seven days, but is usually ten 
days, or even more, if the weather 
is cool. Shortly before hatching, the eggs 
become quite dark in color. Then the little 
“darkies” eat a hole and crawl out, soon 
looking too large ever to have been able 
to get into so small a compass. Their ap¬ 
pearance should have been carefully 
watched for, and food leaves supplied as 
soon as the little, black worms were seen. 
The freshly-hatched cecropia caterpillar is 
about a quarter of an inch long, black, 
and with little black bristle like tubercles. 
Occasionally I have had freaks in a brood, 
such specimens being a deep yellow in color. 
Any kind of leaf which the young cater¬ 
pillar will take is suitable food for the 
first three stages of its existence. One 
year, when I had a brood hatch early in 
April, I fed them on the leaf of some per¬ 
ennial shrub, which supplied the only “gar¬ 
den sass” then available. I have seen it 
stated that the young Asiatic silkw r orm 
may be fed on lettuce for a few days, till 
better food may be obtained. But my ex¬ 
perience with the young American silk¬ 
worm is just the contrary. Broods com¬ 
ing out before the leaves opened have 
“turned up their noses” at tender lettuce 
and stolidly succumbed to starvation. 
Apple, pear, currant, peach, plum, berry 
of all kinds, bay, maple hard and soft, 
mountain laurel, apricot, may be fed, some 
easily injured at this time. Do not touch 
it with the hands at all, if you can pos¬ 
sibly help it. Lift it, if necessary, by the 
leaf or twig to which it clings. Indeed, 
at all times, handle your worm like Isaak 
Walton’s frog, “as though you loved him.” 
Their tender skin is easily torn, then in¬ 
fection may set in and destroy the worm. 
After h period of (wo or three days 
thus spent, the caterpillar is ready to 
moult. The masklike headpiece may be 
seen hanging down in front of the face. 
The colors of the caterpillar are dingy and 
dirty. Then the worm begins to wriggle. 
The old skin splits near the head, and the 
caterpillar, bright and fresh as though 
newly enameled, crawls out—like an em¬ 
blem of the resurrection. Sometimes the 
“mask” attached to the head is not shed 
with the rest of the skin, and must be 
carefully removed. After the first moult, 
the caterpillar 
regains i t s 
original color. 
Many specimens of the Cecropia Moth attain to great size. 
broods preferring one kind, some another. 
They eat voraciously, with a peculiar 
movement. Supporting themselves by the 
false legs, or props, on the latter half of 
the body, and grasping the edge of the 
leaf with the sharp-pointed true legs, they 
raise the head and set the mandibles into 
the edge of the leaf, then bring the head 
slowly down, at the same time cutting the 
leaf away with their rapidly moving jaws; 
somewhat as the barber “dehaired” ouf 
locks just before the summer vacation, “to 
keep the boys cool.” After a full meal, 
the caterpillar rests awhile, digests its din¬ 
ner, and then goes at it again. No won¬ 
der they grow like pigs! 
In a few days, the caterpillar’s size has 
so increased that its skin is too small, and 
must be exchanged for a larger one. In 
fact, the larger one is developing already. 
The caterpillar then “moults.” It refuses 
all food and ceases to move about, remain¬ 
ing as still as if dead. If lightly touched, 
it jerks from side to side, to testify its 
displeasure at being disturbed. It should 
be treated with great care, as it is very 
T all 
times 
be care¬ 
ful to have 
the recepta¬ 
cles for your worms 
scrupulously clean. 
Every day remove 
the wilted leaves 
and dead caterpil¬ 
lars, and thorough- 
clean their quarters with a 
stiff brush, taking out every 
particle of dirt. Do not pull 
the caterpillars from the old 
leaf. Put the fresh leaves 
into the cage. The worms 
will leave the old for the new, 
and the old ones may then be 
removed. A few fine drops 
of water should be sprinkled 
on the leaves every day. The 
caterpillars search them out 
and slowly drink them. But 
do not put in enough water 
to saturate the air in the re¬ 
ceptacle. As for the recepta¬ 
cles, or cages, small tin boxes 
will do well enough at first, 
but glass jars are better, 
as their rounding bottoms are more 
easily kept clean. Give your speci¬ 
mens plenty of room, putting only a 
few into a cage, unless it is very large. 
While the caterpillar has no objection to 
eating in the dark, and under any circum¬ 
stances can “get its hand to its mouth,” 
I prefer a transparent cage, as I can then 
more readily keep track of the progress 
of the inmates. These cages may be nearly 
air-tight, as worms respire very little. 
Dry, roomy quarters are essential to pre¬ 
vent the development and spread of cer¬ 
tain fungoid diseases. If conditions are 
not right, the caterpillar loses its appetite, 
its plump, firm appearance is changed to 
a thin and watery one, its skin cracks, 
and a whitish mould appears, which soon 
kills the diseased worm. Dead or sickly 
specimens should be removed at once; and 
the cage should be thoroughly scalded and 
dried to kill any remaining germs. A little 
precaution, taken every day, will prevent 
such disastrous happenings and assure the 
successful maturing of the brood. 
(to be concluded next month) 
