Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Vol. 7, No, 2, pp, 155-lh5 (1985)

Harvesting Pandora Moth Larvae with the Owens Valley Paiute

CATHERINE S FOWLER N.4NCY PETERSON WALTER

HE harvesting of Pandora moth larvae unable to complete the experiments because T{Coloradia pandora lindscyi Barns and of a population collapse among the larvae, we Benjamin), or piagi, by the Owens Valley were able to extrapolate some data from Paiute and other native peoples of the Sierra other sources toward these comparisons. This Nevada of California, has attracted varied paper focuses on these results, after first attention since the turn of the century'. Early describing and illustrating the basic harvesting papers by entomologists, including Aldrich techniques. (1912, 1921), Eldredge (1923), Englehardt (1924), Patterson (1929), and Essig (1934), LIFE CYCLE OF COLORADIA PANDOHA described the basic process, but were based LINDSEYI {Barm and Benjamin) more on hearsay than on direct observation. The life cycle of the Pandora moth is of They thus created some fanciful impressions. specific interest as it sets both the dates and Later ethnographic descriptions, such as those years of han'estmg. Basically, it is a two-year by Steward (1933) and Davis (1965), helped cycle, thus making caterpillars available for sort fact from fancy, although not com­ harvest in large numbers only every other pletely, as they too were based on second­ year. It is also a relatively brief harvest period, hand information rather than direct obser­ lasting from 12 to 25 days in late June and vation. early July. In addition, there is also a peaking In June, 1981, we observed elderly Paiute and collapse of Pandora moth infestations, from Bishop, California, harvesting and pro­ reported by entomologists as occurring on cessing Pandora moth larx'ae. At that time, roughly a 20-to-30-year cycle (Patterson cost/benefit checks were made on both collec­ 1929). tion and processing, to which basic nutritional The actual life cycle begins with the data were added. That season the larvae were emergence of adult moths from their pupal collected by hand rather than by the tree-base cases in early July of the first year. During trenching method that is well attested in the their short life span (ca. one month), the archaeological and ethnographic records. In moths lay a cluster of subspherical eggs m June, 1982, we planned some additional rough, sheltered places in the bark or on the experiments with the trenching method of needles of Jeffrey pine [Piiuis jeffreyii) trees, collection, in order to compare the basic their principal food plant. On hatching, efficiency of the two techniques. Although roughly 30 to 40 days later, the lan'ae ascend the trees and begin feeding on the needles. This continues for the remainder of the Catherine S. l-owler, Dept. of Anthropology, Dniv. of summer. By fall the larvae are in the tops of Nevada, Reno, NV 8955 7; Nancy Peterson Walter, Dept. of Anthropology, California State Univ., Northndge, CA 91330. the trees where thev overwinter in clusters of

55 i 156 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

Fig. 1. Larvae of Coloradia pandora on the forest floor, Inyo National Forest, California, 1981. four to thirty individuals. With the cessation lars descend the trees in great numbers to of winter conditions about the first of April, pupate in the ground (Fig. 1). It is during this the caterpillars disperse and resume feeding. short period of roughly two weeks that During the spring, they consume enormous harvesting and processing take place. Al­ quantities of needles (an average of 21 needles though the Klamath, Modoc, and Western per day per caterpillar [Patterson 1929:15]), Mono are reported to have harvested the and they reach their full size of about 6 to 7 pupae by sifting the soil and duff at the base cm. in length. It is during this period in of trees (Miller and Hutchinson 1928), the particularly heavy hatch years that defoliation people of Owens Valley and Mono Lake seem of the trees is most apparent. The high food to have only occasionally used this method. intake of the piagi creates masses of droppings Once the caterpillars enter the ground to at the base of the trees, a sign used by the pupate, they remain there through the winter Paiute to gauge the caterpillar production of to emerge the following July as adults (Patter­ any one tree or area. In heavy caterpillar son 1929). years, according to entomologist Englehardt Based on this largely biennial life cycle, (1924:35), "the constant dropping of excre­ people could count on a good harvest of ment [makes] a noise hke a sleet storm." Pandora caterpillars only every other year. In In roughly the last week of June or no the off years, a few stragglers or a small hatch later than the first week of July, the caterpil­ might occur in selected areas. However, few HARVESTING PANDORA MOTH LARVAE 157

Fig. 2. Circular trench around Jeffrey pine tree, dug to contain larvae as they descend tree to pupate in the ground. Last used in 1979. Photo taken in 1982. individuals apparently considered these har­ right at it." The trenches were approximately vests worthwhile, and the caterpillars were one-third meter deep and roughly one-third to generally ignored. The focus of attention was one-half meter from the tree, and totally the peak production period, from the end of encircled it. Cleaning takes the trenches to the June through early July. Then the people of level of the old soil or just below. All litter Owens Valley and Mono Lake removed them­ such as pine needles and twigs, as well as selves in family groups to the harvesting areas other debris, was removed. The elders noted in the Jeffrey pine forests between the head­ that trenches had either vertical or back-cut waters of the Owens River and Mono Lake.^ walls to prevent the caterpillars from chmbing out. HARVESTING AND PROCESSING, 1981 New trenches were made in the same Caterpillars are ordinarily collected in manner, being excavated roughly one-third to trenches (odiabi) dug around the bases of one-half meter from the base of the tree, and trees selected for their accumulations of roughly one-third meter wide and one-third caterpillar frass (Fig. 2). According to the meter deep. In former times, a wooden elders, old trenches were cleaned and new digging stick (woobi) was used for excavating ones dug when the people first arrived at the the trenches. New trenches were placed harvesting grounds. Old trenches take a per­ around trees that showed an accumulation of son roughly ten minutes to clean, "if you get caterpillar frass or other obvious caterpillar 158 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

Fig. 4. Open, plain-twined basket used to collect and store piagi. Collected by J. W. H. Hudson, Long Valley, California, 1904. Field Museum of Natural History, No. 59029. 40 cm. in length.

Fig. 3. Mrs. Minnie Williams collecting larvae from the ground with a stick and bucket, 1981.

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Fig. 5. Caterpillars being mixed with hot sand in circular roasting pit, 1981. HARVESTING PANDORA MOTH LARVAE 159

Fig. 6. Removing caterpillars from roasting pit to fan-shaped hardware-cloth sifter, 1981. In former times, an open, plain-twined winnowing basket was used. activity. The only social restriction placed on twice daily and processing took place coinci- excavation of new trenches was that they dently. During the 1981 harvest, caterpillars must be located in one's own family area. were merely gathered from the ground at a Trenches were private property, usually inher­ rate of roughly 100 per 30 minutes (Fig. 3). ited through the female line. In the past, the caterpillars were kept in the None of the Owens Valley elders felt that shade in open-twined globular baskets (Fig. 4) building fires around the bases of trees, as or in a "large pit" (Warren 1963) while reported by entomologist Aldrich (1912) as awaiting processing. Today, plastic buckets well as by Steward (1933: 256) and by Davis serve as well, as the caterpillars are prevented (1965), to smoke the caterpillars would neces­ from chmbing out by the shck sides. sarily bring them down faster. "They come Processing begins in a sandy area with the down on their own," the elders said, and construction of a roasting pit about one meter indeed in June, 1981, they were observed in diameter. In the past, larger pits may have descending the trees in large numbers. been used depending on the catch. A conical Trenches were cleaned of caterpillars mound of sand is first made and then hoi- 160 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

Fig. 7. Sorting washed, roasted caterpillars in preparation for boiling, 1981. lowed in the center. A fire is built to heat the boiled for roughly one hour in either salted or surrounding sand. The coals are removed and unsalted water, depending on individual taste. the live caterpillars are then placed in the Boiled caterpillars are taken from the water hollowed center of the pit (Fig. 5). They are and their heads removed. The results are mixed with the hot sand at the bottom of the enjoyed by all (Fig. 8). Caterpillars are eaten pit, covered, and left to roast for 30 minutes plain or made into a stew with other meat to one hour, depending on what additional and/or vegetable products. The skins of the processing is planned. caterpillars are rather tough and they retain After roasting, the caterpillars are re­ their shape when cooked. moved from the pit and sifted to remove the Caterpillars to be dried for storage are sand. An open-twined parching basket (paco) placed in the shade for two or three days to was formerly used, now replaced by the two weeks. In former times, pole-and-bark ingenious device of willow, reinforcing rod, drying sheds were used, at least in some areas. and hardware cloth shown in Figure 6. The According to the elders, if the caterpillars are roasted caterpillars are then washed and sun-dried they will rapidly become rancid. In sorted. Any "flat" (possibly diseased), over­ the opinion of one individual, caterpillars cooked, or discolored caterpillars are dis­ boiled in salted water also would taste "old" carded in favor of nice, plump, yellow ones by next spring. Dried caterpillars were stored (Fig. 7). Piagi to be eaten immediately are in a "cool place," sometimes being cached at HARVESTING PANDORA MOTH LARVAE 16]

Fig. 8. Plate of boiled caterpillars, ready to eat, 1981. the harvesting grounds in the pole-and-bark NUTRITIONAL DATA sheds or in pits. They kept well through the winter, and with care into the spring and early It was reported by Aldrich (1921: 36-37) summer. that Chief Jake Garrison of Mono Lake put 162 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY up one and one-half tons of piagi during the Lacking the possibihty of deriving data summer of 1920. Given the nutritional data experimentally, we turned to verbal and (Table 1), such a quantity would result in a written accounts of harvesting totals for some considerable amount of fat, protein, and comparative figures. From one of the Owens carbohydrates. Valley elders, who had collected caterpillars The protein content of paigi (11.78%) is by the trench method in 1979, we learned from twice to three times that reported for that by working five or six trees at the normal most Owens Valley plant foods; e.g., Balsam- rate of two times a day over a weekend, he horiza, Calochorttis, Perideridia, Wyethia spp. had gathered roughly 25 pounds of caterpil­ (Yanovsky and Kingsbury 1938). However, lars. Assuming that the 25 pounds represented the fat content (10.94%) is roughly one-half, live weight, and given that this individual and the carbohydrates (4.33%) less than one prefers to process his caterpillars in the fine tenth that of pinyon nuts (Pinus monophylla) sand of his backyard in Bishop, mathematical (Farris 1982: 119). But rough estimates of extrapolation indicates he removed roughly calories/hour returned for collecting and pro­ 100 caterpillars from each trench at each cessing caterpillars are nearly twice those of collection time. This is the same individual pinyon nuts and considerably above those for who stated that it took roughly ten minutes most plant foods studied by Simms (1984: to clean each of the old trenches when he 86). arrived at the site (about one hour of work total). EFFICIENCY OF In 1963, Dick Warren of the U. S. Forest HARVESTING TECHNIQUES Service observed three members of a family Given the short harvesting period, process­ gathering piagi two miles northeast of Bald ing Pandora caterpillars was probably well Mountain. The family was working 18 Jeffrey worth the effort. But, just what was that pines, collecting the caterpillars twice daily. effort and how efficient and effective were the techniques developed by the people to lessen its impacts? We had hoped to answer Table 1 this question with substantive field studies in NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS" the 1982 season, focusing on the comparative COLORADIA PANDORA LINDSEYI value of collecting caterpillars in trenches vs. Moisture 71.82% gathering them individually as we did in 1981. Total Protein 11.78% We reasoned that trenching must offer some Fat (Ether extract) 10.94% advantage, but what was the advantage and Ash 1.13% how could it be measured? Unfortunately, the Carbohydrates 4.33% 1982 season proved to be an unusually poor Calories/100 g. 163. Calories/oz. year for a mid-cycle caterpillar hatch. We had 46. Calories/Hour worked 1,840-2,753'' hoped for some good isolated local hatches upon which to base our harvesting compari­ Nutritional data arc based on 100-g. sample, roasted, sons. However, very little evidence of caterpil­ washed, boiled with non-iodized salt, MICHELSON LAB­ lars was found, and subsequent years from ORATORIES, Los Angeles. 1982 to the present (1985) have shown that a 'These figures are based on estimated lO-hour day (4 to 6 hrs. collecting and 4 hrs. processing) and yields extrapolated predicted population collapse, the down side from reports given in this paper (hand-collecting trial, 1981: of the roughly 20-to-30-year peaking cycle, is 2,753 cal./hr.; two reports of trenching yielding 25 lbs./2 days for 1,840 cal./hr. and 250 Ibs./wk. for 2,628 cal./hr. in effect. All are probably low). HARVESTING PANDORA MOTH LARVAE 163

Warren (1963) stated that "some trees pro­ What, then, are the advantages of trench­ duced over one hundred larvae" on the ing and why did this method develop? The collections in which he participated. This is most obvious advantage of this method of the approximate figure calculated for the collection is that it leaves most of the camp Owens Valley collector. If that yield con­ members free to process caterpillars and/or tinued for roughly one week, the family collect additional piagi by hand. The overall would have collected over 250 pounds cooked harvest period is at maximum three weeks or 100 pounds dry weight in caterpillars. long, and time is thus important. Processing In addition, as previously noted, we also (twice daily) takes a total of roughly four had the account pubhshed by Aldrich (1921) hours. The site must be cleaned and cleared, based on data from another forester, Guy wood collected, the fire tended, the caterpil­ Way, that Jake Garrison and his group collect­ lars sifted and stored, spread to dry, and so ed and cured one and one-half tons of forth. The work is not particularly energy caterpillars in the 1920 season. This seems consuming but it is time consuming. It is like a very high figure given the yields doubtful that much could be done to reduce suggested in the two previous accounts. How­ processing time without altering the social ever, from an account given by Way and pattern of family-based collecting. quoted by Miller and Hutchinson (1928), we Caterpillars are ordinarily processed in learned that Mr. Garrison's camp was a large small batches by family members. Increasing one, that he assigned certain families areas in the batch size would require additional per­ which to harvest, and that the women not sonnel — not an obvious saving. The produce only cleaned the trenches of caterpillars but of a small number of trees, collected twice also picked them off tree trunks, while back each day may be about what a fairly small, in camp processing "was in full swing" (Miller family-based unit can handle at a regular pace. and Hutchinson 1928: 160).' Given that the But, savings can be made in collecting time by harvest could have lasted a maximum of three taking proper advantage of the caterpillar's weeks, Mr. Garrison's groups would have to habits. Piagi descend the trees to pupate, they have worked 50 trees to have obtained the will collect in the trenches and, if the trenches weight in cooked caterpillars and more than are properly constructed, they will remain twice that to have obtained the dry weight. there. The human collectors are thus free to However, if this were a multi-family opera­ augment the catch with individuals picked up tion, that weight could quite easily have been from the ground or to help with processing. obtained by five to seven families working 20 The trenches, in effect, serve as additional trees each. collecting personnel.^ But, could comparable yields be achieved The other advantage of the trenching by merely harvesting caterpillars from the method of collection is more subtle, but ground and from tree trunks as was done in perhaps no less important. Paiute hnguistics the 1981 season? Without doubt they could, provides the clue. Caterpillar trenches are at least up to a point. One person collecting called odiabi, from the stem tia-, "to cache." caterpillars for the roughly four to six hours Caterpillars are a fragile commodity. Once per day that the caterpillars are active could collected, they must be kept from the heat collect about 1,000 per day - the minimum and spared overcrowding or they will die. yield of five trenched trees. Three harvesters Dead caterpillars are not worth processing. could come close to the yield of the family Caterpillars in trenches are in the shade of the observed by Warren (1963). trees. Given that the trenches are circular, the 164 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY caterpillars will keep moving around the tree process them, we have been able to offer searching for an exit. They will also attempt better documentation of practices through to pupate immediately in the forest soil unless contemporary observation. Perhaps additional prevented from doing so. The cleaned side- work with the elders of Owens Valley, in walls and bottom of the trench prevent this. addition to archaeological investigations (e.g.. Trenches are thus also functioning as Weaver and Basgall n.d.), will provide more "caches" of living resources awaiting pro­ definitive conclusions in the future. cessing. NOTES ANTIQUITY OF PIAGf EXPLOITATION 1. Archaeologically, trenches are also known Little is known of the antiquity of collect­ from south of Lookout Mountain, northeast of ing piagi by the Owens Valley and Mono Lake Mammoth Lakes, California (Richard Weaver, per­ sonal communication 1985). But contemporary gath­ Paiute. Even less is known of the antiquity of ering takes place considerably north of this locahty. collecting them by trenching trees. According 2. Way's two accounts (Way 1920; Miller and to Forest Service survey data, there are over Hutchinson 1928) are slightly at variance. In one 4,000 trenches in the Inyo Jeffrey pine (Way 1920), he stated that men collected the forests (Richard Weaver, personal communica­ caterpillars from the trenches and women transported tion 1985; Weaver and Basgah MS). Older them to the processing site. After all were trans­ ported, processing took place. But Way was also sites visited in 1982 are known to date to quoted by Miller and Hutchinson (1928: 159-160) as before the turn of the century. However, saying that the women did most of the collecting, trenches rather quickly fill with forest htter carrying burden baskets filled with larvae to camp and become ah but invisible after roughly 60 where processing "was in full swing." to 100 years. 3. Although we lack data on time required to The term piagi is also of interest, as it clean caterpillars from trenches, we suggest that it is appears to be an old form in the northern roughly half to one-quarter that required to pick up caterpillars by hand from the ground and/or off trees. Uto-Aztecan languages for some type of larvae. It has cognates in the Numic languages, REFERENCES in Cahuilla (piyaxat, "worm with two horns" [Seller and Hioki 1979]), in Tubatulabal Aldrich, J. M. (pi?agin-t, "grub worm" [Voegelin 1958]), 1912 Larvae of a Saturnid Moth Used as Food by and in Hopi (pi?aki, "corn worm" [Voegelin California Indians. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 20(1): 28-31. 1957]). It is tempting to suggest that the original referent for these cognates was Colo­ 1921 Coloradia Pandora Blake, a Moth of Which radia pandora lindseyi, and thus that piagi the Caterpillar Is Used as a Food by the Mono Lake Indians. Annals of the Ento­ have been harvested for many centuries. But, mological Society of America 14: 36-39. it is equally hkely that the referent was the Davis, Emma Lou white-hned sphinx moth larvae (Hyles lineata; 1965 An Ethnography of the Kuzedika Paiute of see also Fenenga and Fisher 1978 for this Mono Lake, Mono County, California. Uni­ identification of the Cahuilla referent). These versity of Utah Anthropological Papers larvae were much more widespread and also No. 75: 1-55. commonly collected by most northern Uto- Eldredge, I. F. Aztecan groups. 1923 Caterpillars a la Paiute. American Forestry Although few conclusions can be reached 29(354): 330-332. as to the antiquity of the use of piagi and the Englehardt, George P. techniques presently employed to take and 1924 The Saturnid Moth, Coloradia Pandora, a HARVESTING PANDORA MOTH LARVAE 165

Menace to Pine Forests and a Source of Steward, Julian H. Food to Indians in Eastern Oregon. Brook­ 1933 Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute. lyn Entomological Society Bulletin, (n.s.) 19 University of CaHfornia Publications in (April): 35-36. American Archaeology and Ethnology 33(3): 233-350. Essig, I. F. 1934 The Value of Insects to the CaHfornia Voegelin, Charles F. Indians. Scientific Monthly 38(2): 181-186. 1958 Working Dictionary of Tubatulabal. Inter­ national Journal of American Linguistics Farris, Glenn J. 1982 Pine Nuts as an Aboriginal Food Source in 24(3): 221-228. California and Nevada: Some Contrasts. Voegelin, Charles F., and Florence M. Voegelin Journal of Ethnobiology 2(2): 114-122. 1957 Hopi Domains: A Lexical Approach to the Fenenga, Gerrit L., and Eric M. Fisher Problem of Selection. International Journal 1978 The Cahuilla Use of Piyatem, Larvae of the of American Linguistics Memoir No. 14. White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata), as Warren, Dick Food. The Journal of California Anthro­ 1963 Notes Obtained from Mr. and Mrs. Frank pology 5(1): 84-90. Sam of Coleville, California, Concerning Piuga or Pandora Moth Larvae. Unpublished Miller, John, and Wallace Hutchinson archival document on file at Inyo National 1928 Where Pe-ag'gie Manna Falls. Nature Maga­ Forest, Bishop, CA. zine, September, pp. 158-160. Way, Guy S. Patterson, J. E. 1920 Pieaggie Report. Unpublished archival docu­ 1929 The Pandora Moth, a Periodic Pest of West­ ment on file at Inyo National Forest, ern Pine Forests. United States Department Bishop, CA. of Agriculture Technical Bulletin No. 137. Weaver, R. A., and M. E. BasgaH Seller, Hansjakob, and Kojiro Hioki MS Aboriginal Exploitation of the Pandora 1979 Cahuilla Dictionary. Banning: Malki Museum Moth Larvae in East-Central California: A Comparative Reevaluation. MS in possession Press. of the authors. Simms, Steven R. Yanovsky, E., and R. M. Kingsbury 1984 Aboriginal Great Basin Foraging Strategies: 1938 Analyses of Some Indian Food Plants. Jour­ an Evolutionary Analysis. Ph.D. dissertation. nal of the Association of Official Agricul­ University of Utah. tural Chemists 21(4): 648-665.