The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-02
A Butterfly Farm
in a City Flat

III d lily AIdS
To create butterflies of new and gorgeous
colors in a city fiat is the hobby pursued
| by DR.. Otto Seifert at his home in East
| Eighty-fourth street.
1t was in his boyhood home In Hanover,
Germany, that he first became interested
| in butterflies. His father didn't want him
| to play in the street. 80 he sent him to the
woods and fields. And the lad speedily
beca me a student and collector Of butter
flies. He came to America in 1878 and
was in the drug business for thirty-five
years, but continued his collecting and his
experiments with butterflies.
| Now he has butterflies by thousands
| and is raising more all the time. Caters
pillars are coming to him from friends in
| all parts Of the world. They restrict him
In his movements. n
y II wanted to go to Europe this year,
he said the other day, -but I have now
so many caterpillars that could not leave
them"
DR.. Seifert is now making experimenty,
of special interest By means Of the appliA
cation of the extremes Of heat and cold
to the caterpiars, butterflies OF more gore
geous or more sober colors, as the e1peris
ment may result, are being produced. and
some entirely new and more picturesque
species may yet be forthcoming from the
freezing out or the incubating process
which DIR. Seifert employs.
In doing this he IL following out the dis
covery first made by George DorfmeisterE
Bavarian sohoolteacher, and since fols
lowed up by August Weismann, DR.. Stand"
fuss in Zurich and w. II. Edwards In this
country. Dorfmeister discovered that by
putting the pupe Of the butterflies belong
ing to the family Of Arctiide away in the
cold Of his cellar for certain length OF time
he secured modification in form and color
which made the resulting butterflies re-
, semble butterfly Of q more northern cline.
DR.. Seifert has taken butterfly common
from Labrador to the Cape Of Good Hope.
and by the icebox or the incubator method
he has achieved specimens which have an
individuality of their own. He has taken
butterflies Familiarity known in the fields
around New York and by subjectirs tiS
chrysalids to extremes OF heat and cold
has obtained forms that would properly
belong to both Canada and Florida.
The pupe from which it is desired to
secure a more northern form Of butterfly
is put as soon as it's shell is hard into the
refrigerator or icebox for two hours before!
it is consigned to the freezer for its long
sleep, to accustom it to the freezing temA
perature 1t is subjected to the same j
treatment when taken from the freezet
before being exposed to q regular tema
perature. 4
Not only will the effects of extreme cold
eliminate the brilliant eyes upon the winga
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 approachtS
ing the triangular in shape appearing inE
the modified form as more forked :
The females in general are far less inS.
clined than the males to yield in regard
to color and design to the stimulating in|}
! fluences of temperature. While heat and
cold usually act as stimulants in different
degrees, in some cases almost the same
modifcat ions are obtained by extreme heat
as by cold
Extreme heat seems to rot ard develops
ment just as cold does. Freshly formed
pupe Of the Arctic drQe exposed to tenn
perature Of about 100 Fahrenheit for 100
hours gave after six days an extrem
eral the effect Of the cold is found to pro-
duce northern forms with more sober
| coloring, while the heat brings out gorgeous
, coors even more brill iantly..
/ formations is exceedingly simple. 1t is an
J ordinary ioebox, or freezer, where the chrys-
ais is kept so fast asleep that a little matter
| of temperature does not in the least trou "a
which 1t would assume in an extreme
northern cline. From the freezer il Ia
| transferred to pasteboard box in living
room until the butterfly appears.
The incubator, If such it may Re called.
is made from square tin or sheet iron
box. The oven OF q gas stove would 40.
Lamps are placed beneath the box, and ina
side are series of horizontal shelves, upon
which the chrysalids are placed The tem-
In cases in DR.. seifert's fiat are displayet
his collections Of butterflies and also the
butterflies he has created. All the world
is represented-butterfli from Tibet, rare
and hard to get; butterflies from japan.
the Japanese tea boxes; immense steel
| blue butterflies from the Indies and Borneo,
gorgeous fowerlike insects from South
America and queer ones from Mexico
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 eau
everything. Many Of them viii only lyy.e sas
that will only feed on the leaves OF tho
passion flower. /
DR.. Seifert has had many queer thingt,
to contend with In his pairing and rearing
of butterflies. His care of his caterpillars
alone Is no sinecure. Each day OF his lfa
he has to make an excursion to get food
for them.
One species will feed on nothing but the.
leaves II the witch hazel while another
, will die IL fed on anything but the twigs OF
the weeping willow. Some Of them are
very fond Of dandelion leaves. So his Z,
shopping for caterpillar food often extenda
far beyond the limits Of New York. I
Al an instance of the experimental nat'irta
| Of some of his work the doctor few sea
sons ago found a rare green moth in Tho
| Bronx. From II he raised families for tw1
seasons but each season they died: Their
food was investigated, and the third seaso y
the family grew t, maturity. Dr. SeiferS
had been feeding them on the female bless