LESSON XXVII.
THE CHILD OF THE NIGHT.
I suppose you have seen great cobweb-like nests, hanging on plum, cherry, and apple trees. You have heard them called “worm nests.” You have seen that they are full of brown caterpillars, about an inch long.
If you had looked at the twigs of these trees, just after the leaves fall in the autumn, you might have thought some fairy had been putting belts and bracelets upon them. Around the twigs were little even bands of beads. These beads were the eggs of a moth.
As soon as the caterpillars come out of these eggs, they unite in spinning their large silken nests, or tents.There they live together, until they have grown to nearly full size. Then they bite holes in the nest and travel off, each its own way.
When the caterpillar is full-grown, it spins a nice, thin, clear cocoon, and powders it all over with yellow dust.
When the moth comes out, it has yellowish wings with brown bands. It appears in July, and at once goes off to the orchards. There, in the autumn, it lays its eggs in rings around the twigs. This moth rests with its wings folded against its body like a cloak. Many moths fold their wings cloak-wise, instead of spreading them out flat, when they rest.
There is a very beautiful large moth, which has a curious caterpillar, about which I must tell you. Whenever this caterpillar changes his skin, he puts on a new color. At first he is black, and so hairy that he looks like a little hedgehog. His next skin is a gray-green, with jet-black hairs and dots. The third skin is light green, with five rows of black dots, a number of clear, yellow spots, and two splendid red spots, like buttons.
The fourth coat is blue, with black and red buttons. Then his last coat is green, with orange buttons. He now spins a cocoon. It is double. The outsideis tough and skin-like. The inner part is of softest silk. This caterpillar is found in the south.
I should like you to see the caterpillars of the sphinx moth eating. This moth gets its name from an odd way the caterpillar has of resting. It lifts up about half of its body, and holds it stiff, and quite still. People think it looks like a great stone image in Egypt called the sphinx.
The sphinx moth lays its eggs on the top sprays of a weed called the spurge. This weed has a milky juice. The seed grows in a little nut-like pod or case. The caterpillar of the sphinx hatches from the egg among the tender green top leaves. These will make its food. At once it begins to eat. It grows fast. As it is greedy, and likes spurge, it eats up all the plant but the roots.
The caterpillar eats the plant from the top down. When it comes to a seed pod it seems to say, “Now for a treat!” It sits up in its funny way, and takes a seed case between its front feet, as a monkey would hold a nut in its paws. It holds the pod against its mouth with its front feet, and gnaws away at it, until it is all gone.
When one plant is stripped bare, off the caterpillars go to another. There they begin at the lower leaves, and eat upward. The lower leaves are coarse andhard. Why do they eat them? Why do they not climb up for better leaves?
Do you not see the wisdom of this habit, which has been fixed in these little creatures? If they climbed up, and ate the top leaves, their little brothers up there would have nothing to eat when they came from the egg. Then they would starve.
If you poke one of these caterpillars, while it is eating, it seems to be very angry. It spits out a quantity of green, ill-smelling juice. But the sphinx caterpillars are pretty, if they have not very good manners. They are black, or dark green, with crimson lines like ribbons on them. They are dotted all over with spots like pearls.
They are full-grown in July. Then they creep into the ground for their pupa state. They lie there, shut up in shell-like cases. In a few weeks, out come the moths. Very early in the day, or late in the afternoon, you may see them flying about honey-bearing plants.
This moth is very pretty. It has large wings of a rose color, with black and green wavy bands. There are two broods of them each season. The caterpillars come in June and September. At the end of September, the last brood of caterpillars hidesin the ground to spend the winter in the pupa state.
All moths that fly in the evening are attracted by light. If you wish to see what very beautiful creatures they are, set some plates on a table around a bright light. Have some glasses ready, and open the window, or outside door. You will do well to have some ether and some cotton wool.
In come the moths! As they blunder about the light, it is easy to catch them gently, and put them on a plate under a glass. Then put in a bit of wool wet with ether, and they will soon be dead. Or, you can look at them awhile, and then let them go. If a moth falls on the velvet or woollen table-cover, you will see the cloth covered with gold dust. These tiny dust grains are his scales.
You will wonder at the beauty of these insects. They have silver and gold gleams. Even the smallest are lovely. Many of them are dressed in pea-green and silver, or rose-pink, with red, black, and brown lines, and fringes. Some are lemon or orange color. I have found very lovely little moths, clinging to the window panes, early in the morning.
The moths of tropic lands are very large, and very splendid in their colors. I do not think they areprettier than many of those in our own land. Our moon moth has long tails, even longer and more curved than those of the swallow-tail butterfly. It is of a delicate cream color, with pink spots.
Now, I will tell you how to catch night-flying moths, if you wish to make a collection. But do not take more than one or two of a kind. It is cruel to waste life.
A collection of moths is hard to keep, their bodies are so soft and large.
If you wish to catch night moths, take some brown sugar and boil it to a thick syrup. Put in it some peppermint, or rose water, or vanilla, to make it smell nice. Soak some white rags in it. Then lay the rags in a bowl. Put plenty of pins on your sleeve. Have some boxes to put the moths in, and some ether to kill them.
You should have yournetalso. You know a net to catch insects is a bag of lace, or fine netting, sewed on a hoop with a handle. You need a short handle in the night-moth net.
Go to a clump of trees, and pin the sugared rags on the trunks. When you have pinned on all you wish, turn about, and go to the trees where you put the rags. Have your lantern also. Youwill see dozens of moths feasting on the sugar in the rags. You can catch as many as you like, and put them in your boxes.