Moths of the Limberlost eBook

Gene Stratton Porter
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 183 pages of information about Moths of the Limberlost.

Moths of the Limberlost eBook

Gene Stratton Porter
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 183 pages of information about Moths of the Limberlost.

In gathering the material used I think it is quite true that I have lost as many good subjects as I have secured, in my efforts to follow the teachings of scientific writers.  My complaint against them is that they neglect essential detail and are not always rightly informed.  They confuse one with a flood of scientific terms describing minute anatomical parts and fail to explain the simple yet absolutely essential points over which an amateur has trouble, wheat often only a few words would suffice.

For example, any one of half a dozen writers tells us that when a caterpillar finishes eating and is ready to go into winter quarters it crawls rapidly around for a time, empties the intestines, and transformation takes place.  Why do not some of them explain further that a caterpillar of, say, six inches in length will shrink to three, its skin become loosened, the horns drop limp, and the,creature appear dead and disintegrating?  Because no one mentioned these things, I concluded that the first caterpillar I found in this state was lost to me and threw it away.  A few words would have saved the complete history of a beautiful moth, to secure which no second opportunity was presented for five years.

Several works I consulted united in the simple statement that certain caterpillars pupate in the ground.

In Packard’s “Guide”, you will find this—­“Lepidopterous pupae should be...kept moist in mould until the image appears.”  I followed this direction, even taking the precaution to bake the earth used, because I was very anxious about some rare moths.  When they failed to emerge in season I dug them out, only to find that those not moulded had been held fast by the damp, packed earth, and all were ruined.  I learned by investigation that pupation takes place in a hole worked out by the caterpillar, so earth must touch these cases only as they lie upon it.  The one word ‘hole’ would have saved all those moths for me.

One writer stated that the tongue cases of some pupae turn over and fasten on the back between the wing shields, and others were strangely silent on the subject.  So for ten months I kept some cases lying on their backs with the feet up and photographed them in that position.  I had to discover for myself that caterpillars that pupate in the ground change to the moth form with the feet and legs folded around the under side of the thorax, the wings wrap over them, and the tongue case bends under and is fastened between the wings.

For years I could find nothing on the subject of how a moth from a burrowing caterpillar made its appearance.  In two recent works I find the statement that the pupa cases come to the surface before the moths leave them, but how the operation is performed is not described or explained.  Pupa cases from earth consist of two principal parts:  the blunt head and thorax covering, and the ringed abdominal sections.  With many feeders there is a long, fragile tongue

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Project Gutenberg
Moths of the Limberlost from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.