98 THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 



CATERPILLARS. 



YELLOW BEAR CATERPILLAR. Of all the hairy caterpillars fre- 

 quenting our gardens, there are none so common and troublesome 

 in the Northern States as that called the yellow bear by Harris. 

 Like most of its genus it is a very general feeder, devouring almost 

 all kinds of herbaceous plants, with equal relish, from the broad- 

 leaved plantain at the door-side, the peas, beans, and even tho 

 flowers of the garden, and the corn and coarse grasses of the fields, 

 to the leaves of the vine, the currant, and the gooseberry, which it 

 does not refuse when pressed by hunger. This kind of caterpillar 

 varies very much in its colors ; it is perhaps most often of a pale 

 yellow or straw color, with a black line along each side of the body, 

 and a transverse line of the same color between each of the seg- 

 ments or rings, and it is covered with long pale yellow hairs. 

 Others are often seen of a rusty or brownish yellow color, with the 

 same black lines on the sides and between the rings, and they are 

 clothed with foxy red or light brown hairs. The head and ends of 

 the feet are ochre-yellow, and the under-side of the body is blackish 

 in all the varieties. They are to be found of different ages and 

 sizes from the first of June till October. When fully grown they 

 are about two inches long, and then creep into some convenient 

 place of shelter, make their cocoons, in which they remain in the 

 chrysalis state during the winter, and are changed to moths in the 

 months of May or June following. Some of the first broods of 

 these caterpillars appear to come to their growth early in summer, 

 and are transformed to moths by the end of July or the beginning 

 of August, at which time I have repeatedly taken them in the 

 winged state ; but the greater part pass through their last change 

 in June. The moth is familiarly known by the name of the whito 

 miller, and is often seen about houses. Its scientific name is Arc- 

 tm Virginica. It is white, with a black point on the middle of the 

 fore-wings, and two black dots on the hind-wings, one on the mid- 

 dle and the other near the posterior angle, much more distinct on 

 the under than on the upper side ; there is a row of black dots on 

 the top of the back, another on each side, and between these a lon- 

 gitudinal deep yellow stripe ; the hips and thighs of tL>. fore-legs 

 are also ochre-yellow. It expands from one inch and a;-:alfto two 

 inches. Pick off the caterpillars from day to day and crush them, 

 and do not spare "the pretty white millers," frequently found on 

 the fences, or on the plants, laying their golden yellow eggs. 



