POLYPHEMUS MOTH. (Telea polyphemus.) Pupa. Adult Male. Eggs on Maple Leaf. Adult Female. About 1/2 Life-size. Larva. Cocoon. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO.] The color of the cocoon seems to be influenced in some way by the kind of food eaten by the larva. Cocoons made by larva which have been fed on hickory leaves have a darker color. In the true silk worm moth this same influence has been noticed; larvae fed upon the vine producing red cocoons, on lettuce emerald green cocoons, while those fed upon white nettle produce yellow, green or violet cocoons. It is necessary in order to procure these results, that the larvae be fed upon the mulberry till about twenty days before the formation of the cocoon. Polyphemus. The life history of this native silk worm (Telea polyphemus) is by far the best known, because many years ago it was very carefully studied with the hope that it would prove an important silk insect. This hope unfortunately has not been realized. The moths, as shown by the plate, are really beautiful; the large eye spots on the hind wings contributing much towards this effect. The transparent, window-like centers in the eye spot are also of quite rare occurrence among our moths. These transparent areas do not possess the very minute scales found on the other parts of the wing. Almost all of the wonderful variety of colors found in the wings of butterflies and moths are due either to coloring matter in these scales, or to the breaking up of the white light by minute lines on these scales, such as are seen in the play of colors on a soap-bubble. These fine lines on the scales are only on the upper side, and are about one-sixteen-thousandth of an inch apart.