INSECTS INFESTING THE CABBAGE. 



325 



CHAPTER CCXXII. 



The Yellow Bear Caterpillar. 



( Spilosama Virginica. — Fabricius. ) 



Order, Lepidoptera ; Family, Bombycid.e. 



[Feeding upon the leaves of the pea, liean, beet, cabbage, 

 grape, etc. ; a hairy caterpillar of a yellowish-gray or green- 

 ish-white color, marked with from two to four lines, usually 

 of a dark color, and covered with white, yellow or reddish 

 hairs.] 



Fig. 331. -Yellow 

 Bear; a, the cater- 

 pillar—colors, white 

 or gray, the hairs 

 white or yellow ; h 

 the pupa — c o 1 o r , 

 brown ; c, the moth 

 — color, white with 

 black dots. 



This caterpillar 

 (Fig. 331a) varies 

 greatly in its colors 

 and markings ; the 

 young caterpillar is of a greenish-white color, with three white 

 lines on the back ; the more mature ones are pale yellow or 

 dark gray, with two dark colored lines on the back, and some- 

 times there is a yellowish line low down on each side of the 

 body. The hair is in spreading clusters, and is either white, 

 yellow, reddish-brown, or the base is brown with the tips 

 black. When fully grown it measures about one inch and six 

 lines in length ; it then creeps into some sheltered place and 

 spins a thin cocoon, intermixed with the hairs with which the 

 body was covered. 



The perfect moth (Fig. 3316") is commonly known as the 

 " white miller," and is of a pure white color, usually marked 

 with a few l)lack dots. The fore-wings expand from an inch 

 and six lines to nearly two inches. The caterpillar of this 

 moth can be found from the 20th of April to the 1st of October. 



