154 



THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



egg is about one-tenth of an inch long, nearly round, and of a dull 

 creamy white colour, with a reddish spot or streak near the centre. The 

 exact duration of the egg stage was not noted, but may be set down as 

 probably from a week to ten days. 



At the expiration of this period, the larva eats its way out of the egg. 

 the empty shell of which furnishes the young thing with its first meal. At 

 first it is black, with little shining black knobs on its body, from which 

 arise hairs of the same colour. Being furnished with a superior appetite, 

 its growth is very rapid : and from time to time its exterior coat or skin 

 becomes too tight for its comfort, when it is ruptured, and thrown oft". At 

 each of these changes or moultings the caterpillar appears in an altered 

 garb, gradually becoming more like the full-grown larva represented in the 

 accompanying figure. (See fig 33.) It is very handsome. Its body is 



KIG 33. 



pale green, the large warts or tubercles on the top of the 3rd and 4th 

 segments are coral red, the remainder are yellow excepting those on the 

 second and terminal segments, which, in common with the smaller tuber- 

 cles along the sides, are ' blue. During its growth from the diminutive 

 creature as it escapes from the egg, to the monstrous-looking full grown 

 specimen, it consumes an immense amount of vegetable food ; and es- 

 pecially as it approaches maturity, is this voracious appetite apparent. 

 Where one or two have been placed on a young apple tree, they will often 

 strip it entirely bare before they have done with it, and thus prevent the 

 proper ripening of the wood, entailing damage to the tree and sometimes 

 endangering its life ; hence, during their season, they should be watched 

 for and destroyed. Now that their period of active labor is over, their 



