id="pgepubid00019">THE LIVING BUTTERFLY OR MOTH

Materials.

Individual specimens in large jars or cages, and other specimens in cages with foliage; simple lenses and a needle or pin.

Observations.

Butterflies may generally be distinguished from moths by their habit of holding their wings together above them when at rest, by the feelers which are knobbed at the end, and by the rather slender abdomen. Moths generally either fold their wings or hold them outstretched, their feelers are not knobbed, and their bodies are rather bulky.

Observe these points in your specimen and the colors of the upper and under sides of the wings. Find the large eyes and examine them with a lens. With the needle or pin carefully uncoil the sucking tube which you may find under the head between two shields. Note the fuzziness of the body and the "dust" which covers the wings. Examine some of this dust under a lens.

Questions.

1. Is your specimen a butterfly or a moth? Prove your statement. If possible, give the name of your specimen.
2. Write a description of your specimen—its size, general color, and special color pattern.
3. Describe the sucking tube, or "proboscis," and name some flowers from which it might obtain nectar. Try to find out how the tube is operated.
4. Why is it that moths and butterflies never bite? Do they sting? How do you think they protect themselves from enemies?
5. State how the fuzz and dust on your specimen might influence a bird's liking for it.
6. Contrast the size and usefulness of the wings of the butterfly with those of some other insect you know about; contrast their legs; state how development of one set of structures may cause another set to be simple or feeble.
7. Most moths are active by night. What explanation can you give for their large eyes and expanded feelers? Feelers of insects may be for any or all of the following: touch, taste, smell, and hearing.

Suggested drawings.

1. The butterfly or moth.
2. An antenna (feeler).

THE LIVING CATERPILLAR

Materials.

Living caterpillars in cages or covered jars for individual study, and other specimens in cages with foliage for food or concealment.

Observations.

The pupil should observe the general form and external construction of the caterpillar, watching it feeding, in action, and at rest.

Notice how the creature moves. Find its head, its segments (similar divisions of the body), and its breathing holes along the sides of the body. Try to find its eyes, any feelers, wings or paddles. Try to loosen it from its support; find the tiny hooks on the feet for clinging fast.

Questions.

1. Give the general color of your specimen and explain how this color may make it conspicuous or may aid its concealment.
2. Describe the outer surface or covering of the caterpillar. What structures, if any, are there, which might make the animal distasteful or inedible?
3. How many pairs of legs are there? How are they distributed along the body? Counting the segments, state which ones bear no legs.
4. To what extent do the legs act in locomotion? Are they mere organs for attachment while the body swings forward and backward, or do the legs do this, as in a horse? Make a complete statement.
5. Notice the openings of the internal breathing tubes. How are they protected against dust and other foreign matter?
6. Does the caterpillar seem to be a warm-blooded animal? State how the free access of air along the body would influence internal temperature.
7. What do you know about a caterpillar's appetite? How might caterpillars be beneficial or harmful? What means has nature of holding their numbers in check?
8. Recalling that caterpillars finally "sleep" for several days or weeks and awaken as winged creatures, how can you account for their appetites?

THE TUSSOCK MOTH

Materials.

Directions for the study of the caterpillar stage will be found in the exercise "The Living Caterpillar," and directions for the study of the adult male form will be found in the exercise "The Living Butterfly or Moth." The female tussock moth is a wingless, thick-bodied creature, gray in color, very downy, and about three fourths of an inch long. The following directions apply more particularly to the study of the cocoons and the general harmfulness of the tussock moth.

This exercise may be done best outside of the classroom, the pupil answering the questions on scrap paper and rewriting these notes in the laboratory. Living caterpillars, cocoons, some of them bearing their frothy masses of wax and eggs, pupæ, and adult moths of both sexes may be used in the laboratory.

Observations and Questions.

1. On what kinds of trees are the cocoons and the caterpillars generally found? What effect have the caterpillars on the trees, and what may possibly be the final effect upon the trees of the locality or the entire district?
2. Upon what part of the tree are the cocoons made, and why? Where on the bark are they, and why?
3. Is the opening of the cocoon at the upper or the lower end? What reason can you assign for this?
4. Count the number of cocoons upon the entire tree or estimate it by counting those upon a part of the tree. Now count the number of eggs on a cocoon. Assuming that one half of the cocoons bear eggs, calculate the number of caterpillars on a tree next year.
5. How is the waxy covering of the eggs a particularly good protection against winter weather?
6. Investigate the interiors of several cocoons and state what you find.
7. On the pupa find the jointed and tapering hinder end, abdomen, and at the head region and lying along the under side, the marks of the legs and the feelers, and possibly the wings, all pressed close against the body. Find also the breathing pores along the sides of the abdomen.
8. Unlikeness between male and female is called "sexual dimorphism." Explain how the tussock moth shows this. For what work does each form seem particularly adapted?
9. What methods would you use that the tussock moth might be destroyed or kept out of a community?

The numerous small worm-like creatures often found are the caterpillar stages of another insect, an ichneumon fly, which laid its eggs under the skin of the tussock caterpillar. How has their development affected that of the tussock moth? What great result does nature accomplish by this arrangement?

Suggested drawings.

1. A caterpillar, × 2.
2. A cocoon with its egg mass.
3. A pupa as seen from the under side.
4. An adult moth, either male or female.

THE LIVING BEETLE

Materials.

Living beetles in cages, together with portions of the plant upon which they are found; or if water beetles are used, they should be kept in aquaria. Individual specimens in battery jars or wide-mouth bottles, and preserved beetles in pans or vials for reference.

Observations.

1. Upon what plant or in what surroundings is your kind of beetle generally found? If you can, give its common name.
2. What is the length, breadth, and thickness of your beetle? Would you describe it as a "small" insect or a "large" one?
3. Of what general color is it? Describe any color markings you see.
4. If any of the legs differ from the others or are of peculiar shape or length, describe