The moth would expose the whole length of the tube in
a coil, which it would make larger and contract by turns, at times
drawing it from sight. When it was uncoiled the farthest, a cleft
in the face where it fitted could be seen.
The next day my second Carolina case produced a beautiful female.
The history of her emergence was exactly similar to that of the
male. Her head, shoulders, and abdomen seemed nearly twice the
size of his, while her wings but a trifle, if any larger.
As these moths are feeders, and live for weeks, I presume when the
female has deposited her eggs, the abdomen contracts, and loses its
weight so that she does not require the large wings of the females
that only deposit their eggs and die. They are very heavy, and
if forced to flight must have big wings to support them. I was so
interested in this that I slightly chloroformed the female, and made
a study of the pair. The male was fully alive and alert, but they
had not mated, and he would not take wing. He clung in his natural
position, so that he resembled a big fly, on the smooth side of the
sheet of corrugated paper on which I placed the female.
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