Nature biographies; the lives of some every-day butterflies; moths; grasshoppers and flies . place, how-ever, within a few weeks after theyare laid. By a careful examination,the minute but fully formed larvaemay be found within the egg-shellsany time between September and thefollowing April. The caterpillars re-main during this long period quietlyconfined within their narrow houses,but when the warm rays of the springsun penetrate their abodes, they eatoff the tops of the egg-shells, andcome out ready to break their longfast upon the tender foliage of the ex-panding buds. They are then tinycre
Nature biographies; the lives of some every-day butterflies; moths; grasshoppers and flies . place, how-ever, within a few weeks after theyare laid. By a careful examination,the minute but fully formed larvaemay be found within the egg-shellsany time between September and thefollowing April. The caterpillars re-main during this long period quietlyconfined within their narrow houses,but when the warm rays of the springsun penetrate their abodes, they eatoff the tops of the egg-shells, andcome out ready to break their longfast upon the tender foliage of the ex-panding buds. They are then tinycreatures, scarcely one-tenth of an inch long, showingunder a lens that the blackish body is thickly coveredwith rather long brownish, or grayish, hairs. They feedupon the unfolding leaves of the twig near where the eggmass was placed. In about two weeks each increases insize to such extent that the skin in which it came fromthe egg is too small for it. This skin then splits openalong the back, and the caterpillar crawls out, clad in anew skin that had gradually been forming beneath the 42. Fig. 46. — Egg Mass,with Outer Coveringremoved. A Devastator of Forests. old one. This skin-shedding process is called moulting:it is the general way in which insects pro\ide for in-crease in size. The caterpillars very commonly emerge from the eggssome time before the leaves of their food-plants pushout. Under such conditions the tiny larvae are likely tohuddle together upon or near the egg mass to await theunfolding of the leaves. There seems to be considerablevariation in the time of hatchino-, as larv^ of various
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1901
