Until the emergence of the Cecropias, my cocoons and pupa cases
were kept on my dresser. Now I moved the box to a chair beside my
bed. That was a lucky thought, for the first moth appeared at
midnight, from Mr. Idlewine's case. She pushed the wing shields
away with her feet, and passed through the opening. She was three
and one-half inches LONG, with a big pursy abdomen, and wings the
size of my thumbnail. I was anxious for a picture of her all damp
and undeveloped, beside the broken pupa case; but I was so fearful
of spoiling my series I dared not touch, or try to reproduce her.
The head and wings only seemed damp, but the abdomen was quite wet,
and the case contained a quantity of liquid, undoubtedly ejected
for the purpose of facilitating exit. When you next examine a pupa,
study the closeness with which the case fits antennae, eyes, feet,
wings, head, thorax, and abdominal rings and you will see that it
would be impossible for the moth to separate from the case and
leave it with down intact, if it were dry.
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