If a single pair of these cocoons ever had produced
two of a kind, it would give rise to doubts. When all of them proved
to be male and female that paired, it seems to me to furnish
conclusive evidence that the caterpillars knew what they were
doing, and spun in the same place for the purpose of appearing
together.
At maturity, usually near five weeks, the full-fed caterpillar
rests a day, empties the intestines, and races around searching for
a suitable place to locate winter quarters. With burrowing
caterpillars that winter in pupa cases, soft earth or rotting wood
is found and entered by working their way with the heads and
closing it with the hind parts. At the desired depth they push in
all directions with such force that a hollow larger, but shaped as
a hen's egg, is worked out; usually this is six or more inches below
the surface. So compactly is the earth forced back, that fall rains,
winter's alternate freezing and thawing, always a mellowing process,
and spring downpours do not break up the big ball, often larger than
a quart bowl, that surrounds the case of the pupa.
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