308 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



the caterpillars were near to them resting on a leaf. The 

 position of these young insects was so peculiar as to attract 

 attention, independently of the long branching spines with 

 which the fore part of their body was armed. They were not 

 stretched out in a straight line, neither were they hunched up 

 like the caterpillars of the Luna and Polyphemus moths ; but, 

 when at rest, they bent the fore part of the body sidewise, so 

 that the head nearly touched the middle of the side, and their 

 long horn-like spines were stretched forwards, in a slanting 

 direction, over the head. When disturbed they raised their 

 heads and horns, and shook them from side to side in a me- 

 nacing manner. These little caterpillars were nearly black ; 

 on each of the rings, except the last two, there were six straight 

 yellow thorns or spines, which were furnished on all sides with 

 little sharp points like short branches. Of these branched 

 spines, two on the top of the first ring, and four on the second 

 and the third rings, or ten in all, were very much longer than 

 the rest, and were tipped with little knobs, ending in two 

 points ; they were also movable, the insect having the power 

 of dropping them almost horizontally over the head, and of 

 raising them up again perpendicularly. On the eleventh ring 

 there were seven spines, the middle one being long and 

 knobbed like those on the fore part of the body ; on the last 

 ring there were eleven short and branched spines. After cast- 

 ing its skin two or three times, the caterpillar becomes lighter 

 colored, and gradually changes to green ; the knobs on the long 

 spines disappear, their little points or branches do not increase 

 in size, and finally these spines become curved, turning back- 

 wards at their points, and resemble horns. When fully grown, 

 the caterpillar measures from four to five inches in length, and 

 about three quarters of an inch in diameter. It is of a green 

 color, and transversely banded across each of the rings with 

 pale blue ; there is a large blue-black spot on each side of the 

 third ring; the head and legs are orange-colored; the ten long 

 horn-like spines on the fore part of the body are orange-colored, 

 with the tips and the points surrounding them black; the other 

 spines are short and black. Notwithstanding the great size, for- 

 midable appearance, and menacing motions of this insect, when 



