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134 SHARP EYES 



critter fer a nine-dollar bill !" he exclaimed, as he start- 

 ed with a shudder that fairly electrified his aged being, 

 and almost ran back to his cottage door. 



To the feminine entomologist the first introduction 

 to the spice -bush caterpillar is usually quite as demor- 

 alizing. That blank, unwinking stare of the two big 

 black eyes is quite threatening, until we discover that it 

 is all a bugaboo that they are mere freaks of ornament 

 on the body of the caterpillar, and not actual eyes. 

 This caterpillar when full grown is nearly two inches 

 in length. Its body is of a bright green 

 with small blue spots, and during the last 

 1| week of its growth it changes to a rich 

 yellow color. The eye spots are black sur- 

 rounded with buff; and upon a little prov- 

 ocation the head becomes further orna- 

 mented with a pair of orange-colored horns, 

 with the same malodorous peculiarities 

 which we noted a few weeks ago in the 

 " parsley caterpillar," to which this spice- 

 bush specimen is closely allied. 



The " yellow " stage of the caterpillar indicates that 

 its period of transformation is close at hand. Selecting 

 a suitable situation, either horizontal or perpendicular, 

 it spins a tiny tuft of silk, into which it entangles its 

 hindmost pair of feet, after which it forms a V-shaped 

 loop about the front portion of its body, and hangs thus 

 suspended, soon changing to a chrysalis of a pale wood- 

 color. These chrysalides commonly survive the winter, 

 and in the following June the beautiful "blue swallow- 

 tail " (Papilio Troilus] will emerge, and may be seen sug- 

 gestively fluttering and poising about the spice and sas- 

 safras bushes. 



