Birds and Nature, Vol. 08, No. 5, December 1900: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and Nature, Vol. 08, No. 5, December 1900: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
During the winter, when the leaves are not on the trees and shrubs
which are frequented by these larvae, a large number of cocoons may
easily be collected. These should be kept out of doors during the
winter, for if kept in a warm room they will emerge during the winter
or so early in the spring that food cannot be secured for the larvae.
If one secure a number of old cocoons, from which the moths have
failed to emerge, and cut them open longitudinally, he may learn many
interesting facts. A dead and dry mummified looking larva or chrysalis
may be found, or, what is even more interesting, no trace of the larva
or chrysalis may be present, but only a mass of small white, paper-like
cocoons. These have been left by a colony of little wasp-like parasites
which may occur in such large numbers that there is scarcely room for
all to spin their cocoons, so that on account of being so closely
crowded together, they are moulded into a mass of cocoons having the
form of the cavity formerly occupied by the larva.
The cocoons of Cecropia are composed of two parchment-like layers of
silk which are generally very dense and strong. The space between
these two layers contains loosely spun threads of silk like a layer of
packing material. The larvae seem normally to make three varieties of
cocoons; one kind is very loosely constructed, much larger than the
ordinary form and not attached to a twig, but found in the grass or in
shrubs near the ground. The two other forms of cocoons are much smaller
and more closely woven, but differ in size; female moths as a rule
emerging from the larger cocoons, and males from the smaller ones.
Dead larvae are sometimes found in cocoons which are practically of
a single thickness; there being no space between the outer and inner
layers. The hollow skins of the larvae found in such cocoons clearly
show that this unusual cocoon is due to the influence of parasites upon
the larva.
In the upper open end of the cocoon, kernels of wheat, corn, beechnuts
and even acorns have been found. How these get in this position seems
to be quite a puzzle. In opening twenty or thirty cocoons, five or six
kernels of corn have been found, thus showing that this occurrence is
by no means rare. Chickadees and blue-jays have been given the blame
for this work, since these birds are thought to have the habit of
hiding food. The inverted outer layer of the cocoon clearly shows, in
some cases, that the kernel of corn has been thrust into the cocoon
with some force.
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