12G CATERPILLARS AND THEIR M0TH8 



The pup^e were a little over two and a half inches 

 long, and the tip of the tongue-case touched the wing- 

 covers a little more than half-way down. 



They are very easily injured at first, and the promi- 

 nent tongue-case breaks so easily that great care is 

 needed in packing these pupae for transportation. 

 Fine, sifted earth is the best packing, though cotton 

 may be used if no pressure comes on the tongue-case. 



The caterpillars feed on tomato, tobacco, potato. 

 Datura (jimson-weed), ground-cherry, and matrimony- 

 vine, and a great deal they eat, too. When hatched 

 they eat little holes through a leaf ; then as they grow 

 they begin on a very tender young leaf at the top of 

 a stem of tomato, for instance, strip the midrib com- 

 pletely on both sides, and then take the next larger 

 leaf. They feed at dusk, night, and early morning, 

 hiding through the day, unless it is cloudy or rainy, 

 or they are molting or stung. 



They may be traced by following the bare midribs 

 and stems — for in the later molts they devour the 

 midribs too — and searching the leaves nearest the last 

 bare stem, counting from the top. The balls of excre- 

 ment also show where the caterpillar has been or is, 

 and sharp eyes do the rest. The green crawlers are 

 not easy to find. We have seen an observing man 

 look carefully over a whole plant and fail to find two 

 half-grown ones which we could see all the time. One 

 of Us was quite indignant with the Other for showing 

 her as a caterpillar what she supposed to be a green 

 tomato. It was both. At least, it was a celeiis and part 

 of the tomato, the rest being inside celeiis, who lay in 

 the hollow he had eaten out of the tomato and looked 

 just like it. It was only his moving head which be- 



