268 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



on the same plant when young, but scattering as they grow 

 older. 



Of all the hairy caterpillars frequenting our gardens, there 

 are none so common and troublesome as that which I have 

 called the yellow bear. Like most of its genus it is a very 

 general feeder, devouring almost all kinds of herbaceous plants 

 with equal relish, from the broad-leaved plantain at the door- 

 side, the peas, beans, and even the flowers of the garden, and 

 the corn and coarse grasses of the fields, to the leaves of the 

 vine, the currant, and the gooseberry, which it does not refuse 

 when pressed by hunger. This kind of caterpillar varies very 

 much in its colors ; it is perhaps most often of a pale yellow 

 or straw color, with a black line along each side of the body, 

 and a transverse line of the same color between each of the 

 segments or rings, and it is covered with long pale yellow 

 hairs. Others are often seen of a rusty or brownish yellow 

 color, with the same black lines on the sides and between the 

 rings, and they are clothed with foxy red or light brown hairs. 

 The head and ends of the feet are ochre-yellow, and the under 

 side of the body is blackish in all the varieties. They are to 

 be found of different ages and sizes from the first of June till 

 October. When fully grown they are about two inches long, 

 and then creep into some convenient place of shelter, make 

 their cocoons, in which they remain in the chrysalis state 

 during the winter, and are changed to moths in the months of 

 May or June following. Some of the first broods of these 

 caterpillars appear to come to their growth early in summer, 

 and are transformed to moths by the end of July or the be- 

 ginning of August, at which time I have repeatedly taken 

 them in the winged state ; but the greater part pass through 

 their last change in June. The moth is familiarly known by 

 the name of the white miller, and is often seen about houses. 

 Its scientific name is Arctia Virg-inica, and, as it nearly resem- 

 bles the insects commonly called ermine-moths in England, 

 we may give to it the name of the Virginia ermine-moth. It 

 s Y-'^ite, with a black point on the middle of the fore wings, 

 and two black dots on the hind wings, one on the middle and 

 the other near the posterior angle, much more distinct on the 



