56 



THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS. 



TJu Common Woolly Bear (Spilosoma virginka). 



BY THE EDITOR. 



The caterpillars known under the common name of " woolly bears " 

 belong to the family of Arctians, and most of the species in the moth 

 state are very pretty objects. The commonest of all the species is Spilo- 

 soma virginka, a pure white moth which appears on the wing in May, when 

 it deposits its clusters of round yellow eggs on the under side of the 

 leaves of many plants. In a few days these hatch into minute hairy cater- 

 pillars, which for a time feed in company and devour at first the under 



side of the leaf only so 

 that it assumes a scorched 

 and withered aspect. In 

 a short time, however, they 



part company, each one 

 choosing his own course, 

 and blessed with good di- 

 gestive powers, they eat 

 freely of all parts of the 

 leaf. The full grown cater- 

 pillar (fig. 9, a) is nearly 

 two inches long, thickly 

 clothed with hair usually 

 of a yellowish color, but not always so, for some are light brown and 

 others a darker brown. The head and feet are usually yellow, and the 

 hairs arise in little tufts from small yellow tubercles arranged nearly in 

 rows across the body. In the spaces between the segments there are 

 darker lines, sometimes brown or dark brown, and occasionally nearly 

 black ; there is a dark line along each side, and the under surface is also 

 of a dark shade. 



When full grown the caterpillar seeks some sheltered nook in which 

 to change to a chrysalis, attached to the under side of a board, under the 

 bark of a tree or in some crevice in a fence, wherever it is dry and 

 secluded. Having fixed on a suitable locality, the larva proceeds to divest 

 its body of the covering of hairs, and with these woven together with 



