The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-09
BUTTERFLY FORM IN FLAT.
Wonderful New Forms Produced By
 Extremes of Heat and Cold.

To create butterflies of new and gor- geous colors in city flat is the hobby pursued by Dr. Otto Selfert at his home in New York
 Dr. Sefert is now making experiments of special interest. By means of the ap- plicaton of the extremes of heat and cold to the caterpilars. butterflies of more gorgeous or more sober colors, as the experiment may result, are being pro- duced, and some entirely new and pictur- esque species may be yet forthcoming from the freezing out or the incubating process which Dr. Sefert employs. In doing this he Is following out the discovery first made by George Dorfmeis- ter. A Bavarian schoolteacher, and since followed up by igust Weismann, Dr. Standfuss in Zurich and w. H. Edwards in this country. Dorfmeister discovered
 that by putting the pupae of the butter- flies belonging to the family of the Arc tiidae away in the oold of his cellar for acertain length Of time he secured a l modification in form and color which
 made the resulting butterflies resemble a butterfly of more northern cline. Not only will the effects of extreme cold eliminate the brilliant eyes upon the wings of brilliant butterflies. such as for instance the common Painted Lady" | but 1t will also have an effect upon the shape of the wings of the insect, the | wings most approaching the triangular in shape appearing in the modified forms l as more forked.
 Extreme heat seems to retard develop- l nlent just as cold does. Freshly formed I pupae of the Arcda are exposed to a | temperature of about 100 Fahrenheit for | 100 hours gave after six days an extreme | southern form of this butterfly. Tn gen.
 eral the effect of the cold is found to produce northern forms with more sober | coloring, while the heat brings out gor- seous oolors even more brilliantly. | In cases fin Dr. Seiferts flat are dis played his collections of butterflies and also the butterflies he has created All the world Is epresented-butterfies from | Tibet, rare and hard to get; butterflies
 from Japan. with mottled winges that in coloring resemble the Japanese tea boxes immense steel blue butterflies from the Indies and Borneo, gorgeous. fowerke | insects from South America and queer | ones from Mexico.
 | One case is full of butterflies from | Florida. Dr. Seifert went to that state to raise and experiment with butterflies, | because he could not get here the food
 they needed. Caterpillars are fastidious
 and won't eat everything. Many of them will only eat one thing, and there Is one | tropical species that will only feed on
 the leaves of the passion flower. Dr. Seifert has had many queer things | to contend with in his pairing and rearing of butterflies. His care of his caterpillars | alone Is no sinecure. Each day of his life
 he has to make an excursion to get food | for them.
 l One species will feed on nothing but the leaves of the witch hazel, while another | will die if feed on anything but the twigs
 of the weeping willow. Some of them are
 very fond of dandelion leaves So his
 shopping for caterpillar food often ex-
 tends far beyond the limits of New York. | As an instance of the experimental na- | ture of some of his work the. doctor few
 seasons ago found a rare green moth in | The Bronx From 1t he raised families | for two seasons, but each season they
 died. Their feed was investigated and the third season the family grew to ma ! turity. Dr. Seifert had been feeding them on the female blossoms of a certain coni-
 fer when they needed the male blossoms | of the same tree.