LEPIDOPTERA. 333 



I have seen on the oak, the ])irch, the black walnut, and the 

 hickory trees, swarms of caterpillars slightly differing in color 

 from each other, and from those above described, that live on 

 the apple and cherry trees; they were more hairy than the 

 latter, but their postures and habits appeared to be the same. 

 Whether they were all different species, or only varieties of 

 the ministra, arising from difference of food, I have not been 

 able to ascertain. 



The cultivation of the balsam and our other large-leaved 

 native poplars seems to have been neglected of late years. It 

 is true that these trees axe not so durable and so valuable as 

 many others; but we sometimes meet with noble specimens of 

 them ; and the rapidity of their growth, the great size they 

 attain in favorable situations, and the fine shade they afford, 

 are qualities not to be overlooked or despised ; nor is the wood 

 entirely worthless, either as fuel or in the arts. If these trees 

 are planted alternately with other more slow-growing trees, 

 we shall have the benefit of the shade and shelter of the former 

 till the others have become large enough to fill their places. 

 They are not subject to be attacked by canker-worms, oak- 

 caterpillars, web-worms, and many othier kinds of insects that 

 infest our ornamental and shade trees of hard wood; but, unfor- 

 tunately, they suffer too often from insect depredators of their 

 own, such as the grubs of two or three kinds of beetles, which 

 bore into their trunks; the spiny caterpillars of the Antiopa 

 butterfly and of the lo moth, the fork-tailed Cerura, the cater- 

 pillar of the herald-moth, and another kind of caterpillar now 

 to be described, all which devour the leaves of these trees. 

 This last kind of caterpillar is found in little swarms on the 

 trees from the last of July to the beginning of October. It 

 does not raise the hinder part of its body when at rest. It is 

 nearly cylindrical, with two little black warts close together on 

 the top of the fourth and of the eleventh rings. There are a 

 few short, whitish hairs thinly scattered over the body, which 

 is pale yellow, with three slender black lines on the back, and 

 a broad dusky stripe, also marked with three black lines, on 

 each side; and the head, fore le^s, and spiracles are black. 

 When fully grown, these caterpillars measure about an inch 



