THE ISABELLA TIGER-MOTH. bo5 



numbers of caterpillurs and gi-asshoppers will Le left to grow 

 to maturity and disperse upon the uplands, bv which means 

 the evil will go on increasing from year to year ; or they will 

 he brought in wdtli the h.ay to perish in our barns and stacks, 

 where their dead bodies will prove ofTensive to the cattle, and 

 occasion a waste of fodder. To get rid of " the old fog "' or 

 stubble, wdiich becomes much thicker and longer in conse- 

 quence of early mowing, the marshes should be burnt over in 

 jMarch. The roots of the grass will not be injured by burn- 

 ing the stubble, on the contrary they will be fertilized by the 

 ashes ; while great numbers of young grasshoppers, cocoons 

 of caterpillars, and various kinds of destructive insects, Avith 

 their eggs, concealed in the stubble, will be destroyed by the 

 f:rc. In the Province of I^ew Brunswick, the benefit arising 

 from burning the stubble has long been proved ; and this 

 practice is getting into favor here. 



During the autumn there may be seen in our gardens and 

 fields, and even by the way-side, a kind of caterpillar (Fig. 

 170) whose peculiar appearance 

 must frequently have excited at- 

 tention. It is A'ery thickly clothed 

 with hairs, which are stiff, short, 

 and perfectly even at the ends, like 

 the bristles of a Ijrush, as if they 

 had all been shoi'u ofi" Avith the sliears to the same lenrrth. 

 The hairs on the first four and last two rings are black ; and 

 those on the six intermediate rings of the body are tan-red. 

 The head and body of tlie caterpillar are also Ijlack. When 

 one of these insects is taken up, it immediately rolls itself into 

 a ball, like a hedge-hog, and, owing to its form and to the elas- 

 ticity of the diverging hairs Avith Avhich it is coA-ered, it read- 

 ily slides from the fingers and hand of its captor. It cats 

 the leaves of the cloA'er, dandelion, narroAv-leaA-ed j^lantain, 

 and of various other herbaceous j)lants, and on the approach 

 of Avinter creeps tmder stones, rails, or boards on the ground, 

 where it remains in a half-torpid state till spring. In April 



