A hobby of mine

Looking out my bedroom window.

I think butterflies and moths are amazing creatures that God has made. It fasinates me how:

~the caterpillars eat and eat and eat, shed their skin and change colors.

~the caterpillars spin silk to make a cocoon.

~how ugly the pupaes look, but so detailed. : )

~how such a big moth could fit in that little pupa.

~the amazing colors of the moths and butterflies.

I like to collect moth cocoons best. I haven't done many yet, but this year I found 7 cocoons - 6 prometheas and one cecropia! One year I found a polyphemus cocoon, but I didn't know enough about them to know what to do with it.

The best time of year to find the cocoons is in the winter and early spring as it is easier to spot the cocoons in the trees without any leaves. If you find a cocoon, keep it somewhere outside where it will get the natural atmosphere and normal temperatures, that way the moth will emerge at the proper time. It needs to get the moisture so the silk will not get too dry and hard and the moth will be able to come all the way out before it's wings harden and cripple them. I have put mine between my window and the screen. In the beginning of April you can bring the cocoons inside in order to watch them and hopefully see them emerge.

The Promethea

The promethea is the most common of our giant silk moths. The female will lay her eggs on wild cherry, lilac, ash, sassafras, tulip tree, and many other kinds of trees. The eggs are whitish with a brown stain and are laid in rows. The caterpillar start out with black and yellow ringed bodies and in the end are a bluish green with six rows of short tubercles that look like horns. The cocoon you can find on their food plant and it looks like just a leaf that stuck it out through the snow and winds. Well, if you take a closer look, you will see that there is something inside of it and the end of the leaf attached to the branch is covered with silk holding the cocoon secure. What an amazing way to protect itself from the hungry birds.

The caterpillar draws the two edges of the leaf around it like a cloak and makes it's cocoon. The cocoon has a conical valve at the upper end through which the moth will come out as you can see in the next picture.

The male moth is a darker maroon color and the female is slightly larger than the male and is lighter and browner with slightly different markings.

The paintings and some of the information are from Insects: A Guide to Familiar American Insects by Herbert S. Zim and Clarnece Cottam. Published in 1956.

Well, the other cocoon I found is one that I have been looking for for a few years. It is the cecropia that is the largest of our giant silk worms. The wings expand up to 6 1/2 inches! These caterpillars feed on over fifty different kinds of trees. I found mine on a box elder, but they are most commonly found on apple, plum, and wild cherry. The cocoon is a baggy hammock attached to a branch. When it is in the cocoon it sheds its skin for the last time and turns into a little brown pupa. In which, the process of changing from the crawler into a winged flying object takes place.

The cream white eggs are laid in small clusters of short rows on the leaves. The caterpillars are black and turn to bluish green and sometimes reach the length of 3 inches!

These cocoons are easily found as they are so big.

When the moth comes out of the pupa it is all wet and crumpled. The moth will sit for a couple hours as its wings slowly expand and dry. As they dry, the color becomes more and more brilliant. It is so neat to see it extend to five or more inches across, I can't wait to see it myself! : )

I would like to mate the moths and hopefully raise them.

Well, maybe Mom will let me count this for my schoolwork! : ) I hope I haven't tired you with this long post.