. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Insect Study 331. The cecropia cocoon is found most abundantly on our orchard and shade trees; it is called by the children the "cradle cocoon,'' since it is shaped like a hammock and hung close below a branch, and it is a very safe shelter for the helpless creature within it. It is made of two walls of silk, the outer one being fe^^ Bfe thick and paperlike and the inner one thin and mffk ^^ firm; between these walls is a matting of loose ' " silk, showing that the insect kn
. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Insect Study 331. The cecropia cocoon is found most abundantly on our orchard and shade trees; it is called by the children the "cradle cocoon,'' since it is shaped like a hammock and hung close below a branch, and it is a very safe shelter for the helpless creature within it. It is made of two walls of silk, the outer one being fe^^ Bfe thick and paperlike and the inner one thin and mffk ^^ firm; between these walls is a matting of loose ' " silk, showing that the insect knows how to make a home that will protect it from winter weather. It is a clever builder in another respect, since at one end of the cocoon it spins the silk lengthwise instead of crosswise, thus making a valve through which the moth can push, when it issues in the spring. It is very interesting to watch one of these caterpillars spin its cocoon. It first makes a framework by stretching a few strands of silk, which it spins from a gland opening in the lower lip; it then makes a loose net-work upon the supporting strands, and then begins laying on the silk by moving its head back and forth, leaving the sticky thread in the shape of connect- ing M's or of figure 8's. Very industriously does it work, and after a short time it is so screened by the silk, that the rest of its performance remains to us a mystery. It is especially mysterious, since the inner wall of the cocoon encloses so small a cell that the caterpillar is obliged to compress itself in order to fit within it. This achievement would be something like that of a man who should build around The eggs of the cecropia moth. Photo by M. V. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Comstock, Anna Botsford, 1854-1930. Ithaca, N. Y. , Com
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