LEPIDOPTERA 



703 



feeding for a time the larva makes a blackish-brown cocoon composed 

 largely of its hair. The adult is of a dull grayish tawny -yellow, with 

 a few black dots on the wings, and frequently with the hinder pair 

 tinged with orange-red. On the middle of the back of the abdomen 

 there is a row of about six black dots, and on each side of the body a 

 similar row of dots. 



The yellow-bear, Diacnst'a virglnica. — The larva of this species is 

 one of the most common hairy caterpillars found feeding on herba- 

 ceous plants. It was named by Harris the yellow-bear on account of 

 the long yellow hairs with which the body is clothed. These hairs 

 are uneven in length, some scattered ones being twice as long as the 

 greater nimiber of hairs. The long hairs are more numerous near the 

 caudal end than elsewhere, but are nowhere gathered into pencils as 

 with the tussock-caterpillars. This larva varies greatly in color. 

 The body is most often of a pale yellow or straw color, with a black, 

 more or less interrupted, longitudinal line along each side, and a 

 more oi* less distinct transverse line of the same color between each 

 of the segments. Sometimes the hairs are foxy red or light brown, 

 and the body brownish or even dark brown. The head and the ends 

 of the feet and forelegs are yellowish, and the venter is dusky. The 

 larva feeds on almost any plant. The 

 cocoon is light, and is composed almost 

 entirely of the hairs of the caterpillar. 

 This insect passes the winter in the 

 pupa state; and it is probable that 

 there are usually two or more broods 

 each year; but these are not well 

 marked. The moth (Fig. 892) is snowy 

 white, with the wings marked by a few 

 black dots; these vary in number, but 

 there are rarely more than three on either wing. There is a row of 



Diacrisia virginica. 



Fig. 893.- -Halisidota caryce, larva. 



black spots on the back of the abdomen, and another on each side, 

 and between these a longitudinal deep yellow stripe. 



