Identifier: birdsnature851900chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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the others are yellow except those onthe sides of the body and on the firstthoracic and last body segment, whichare blue. Unfortunately, these colorssoon fade in the dead larva as is seen inthe plate. This wonderful developmentof tubercles seems to be in some way re-lated to the arboreal habits of the larvae. Although a variety of parasites whichprey upon these larvae is not large, theyare very numerous in individuals, and itis to this cause that only a small per centof the larvae ever produce moths. Theseparasites develop beneath the skin of thelarva as footless grubs, which, at first, donot attack the vital organs, but later theseorgans are preyed upon, and the larvadies. A wasp-like insect which preys up-on this larva well illustrates in its habitsthe crudeness of many instincts. Thefemale will lay eight or ten eggs upon onecaterpillar, but as the young parasiticgrubs require a large amount of food,only one is able to mature and the othersperish. The insect parasites seem, in many
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373 Adult Male.Larva. Adult MaleLarva. PROMETHEAN MOTH. (Callosamia promethea ) Pui)a CECROPIAN MOTH. (Samia cecropia.) Pupa. Eggs on Maple Leaf. About y<i Life-size. FORD, CHICAGO. Adult Female.Cocoon. Adult Female.Cocoon. 219 cases, to mature and transform into theadult stage after the caterpillar has builtits cocoon, and thus many parasites losetheir lives, since they are not always ableto escape from the cocoon. A cocoonwill sometimes be found filled with thesesmall insects, which have not been ableto make their escape, and have thus diedin prison. The adult larva, unlike Prometha, usu-ally spins its cocoon not attached to aleaf, but along a stem; sometimes, how-ever, they may be placed in other situa-tions. In about two weeks after the cocoonhas been spun, the larva transforms intoa chrysalis, in which stage it hibernatesduring the winter, and from which itemerges in May or June. During the winter, when the leaves arenot on the trees and shrubs which are fre-quented by these l

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