He watched an empty cocoon for a year.

J. G. Wood found an emperor moth beside a cocoon that looked untouched. He assumed it had come from elsewhere.

The moth had already escaped through springy fibres that closed behind it. Nature had hidden the exit.

He watched an empty cocoon for a year.

Illustrated small emperor moth above a flask-shaped cocoon. Two schematic close-ups show inward-crossing fibres yielding as the moth leaves, then returning to conceal the exit.

Wood’s year-long mistake, with a schematic reconstruction of the emperor moth cocoon’s one-way fibre exit.

Cocoon of the Small Emperor Moth ( Saturnia pavonia )), Landkreis Starnberg, Germany

He watched an empty cocoon for a year.

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