CATERPILLAR. 



CATERPILLAR. 



but I have not seen any on the hop- vine before 

 August, the former are therefore confined to 

 the elm and other plants in all probability. 

 The caterpillar is brownish, variegated with 

 pale yellow, or pale yellow variegated with 

 brown, with a yellowish line on each side of 

 the body ; the head is rust-red, with two blackish 

 branched spines on the top ; and the spines of the 

 body are pale yellow or brownish and tipped 

 with black. The chrysalis is ashen brown, 

 with the head deeply notched, and surmounted 

 by two conical ears, a long and thin nose-like 

 prominence on the thorax, and eight silvery 

 spots on the back. The chrysalis state usually 

 lasts from eleven to fourteen days ; but the 

 later broods are more tardy in their transfor- 

 mations, the butterfly sometimes not appear- 

 ing in less than twenty-six days after the change 

 to the chrysalis. Great numbers of the chrysa- 

 lids are annually destroyed by little maggots 

 v/ithin them, which, in due time are transformed 

 to tiny four-winged flies (Pteromalus vanessa), 

 which make their escape by eating little holes 

 through the sides of the chrysalis. They are 

 ever on the watch to lay their eggs on the 

 caterpillars of this butterfly, and arc so small 

 as easily to avoid being wounded by the branch- 

 ing spines of their victims." 



The semicolon butterfly which produces this 

 caterpillar expands its wings from two and a 

 half to two and three-quarter inches, and even 

 more. The colour of the wings is orange-taw- 

 ny on the upper sides, with black spots in the 

 middle. The under sides of the wings in 

 some are rust-red, in others reddish white, 

 with a pale gold-coloured semicolon on the 

 middle of the hinder part, which last gives its 

 specific name. 



Another species of caterpillar living upon 

 the hop, also proceeds from a butterfly having 

 wings of an orange-tawny colour on the upper 

 side ; the hinder wings having a silvery comma 

 in the middle of the under side. The wings 

 expand from 2 to 2 inches. This comma 

 butterfly, as it is called (Vanessa comma), re- 

 sembles the white comma of Europe, for which 

 it has probably been mistaken. In habits, &c. 

 the American comma resembles the preced- 

 ing species. 



Among American caterpillars, which attract 

 the particular notice of the farmer, are several 

 appertaining to the family of insects called 

 hawk-moths, or sphinges, the latter name having 

 been applied by Linnaeus, from a fancied re- 

 semblance that some of the caterpillars, when 

 at rest, have to the Egyptian sphynx. The 

 attitude of these caterpillars is indeed remark- 

 able. Supporting themselves by their four or 

 six hind legs, they elevate the fore part of the 

 body, and remain immovably fixed in this 

 posture for hours together. In the winged 

 state, the true sphinges are known by the name 

 of humming-bird moths, from the sound they 

 make in flying, and hawk-moths from their 

 habit of hovering in the air while taking their 

 food. They may be seen during the morning 

 and evening twilight, flying with great swift- 

 ness from flower to flower. Their tongues, 

 when uncoiled, are, for the most part, exces- 

 sively long, and with them they extract the 

 honey from the blossoms of the honeysuckle 



and other tubular flowers, while on the wing. 

 There are other sphinges which fly during the 

 daytime only, and in the brightest sunshine. 

 Then it is that the large clear-winged scsia 

 make their appearance among the flowers, the 

 fragrant phlox being their special favourite. 

 From the size and form of these last, their fan- 

 like tails, brilliant colours, and mode of taking 

 their food whilst poised above the blossoms 

 upon rapidly vibrating wings, they might readi- 

 ly be mistaken for humming-birds. (Hams.) 

 Among the caterpillars of the sphinges, is 

 that commonly called the potato-worm, a large 

 green caterpillar, with a kind of thorn upon 

 the tail, and oblique whitish stripes on the sides 

 of the body. "This insect, which devours the 

 j leaves of the potato, often to the great injury 

 ' of the plant, grows to the thickness of the fore- 

 finger, and the length of three inches or more. 

 It attains its full size from the middle of Au- 

 gust to the first of September, then crawls down 

 the stem of the plant and buries itself in the 

 ground. Here, in a few days, it throws off its 

 caterpillar-.skin, and becomes a chrysalis, of a 

 bright brown colour, with a long and slender 

 tongue-case, bent over from the head, so as to 

 touch the breast only at the end, and somewhat 

 resembling the handle of a pitcher. It re- 

 mains in the ground through the winter, below 

 the reach of frost, and in the following sum- 

 mer the chrysalis-skin bursts open, a large moth 

 crawls out of it, comes to the surface of the 

 ground, and mounting upon some neighbouring 

 plant, waits till the approach of evening in- 

 vites it to expand its untried wings and fly in 

 search of food. This large insect has gene- 

 rally been confounded with the Carolina 

 sphinx (Sphinx Carolina of Linnceus), which 

 it closely resembles. It measures across the 

 wings about five inches ; is of a gray colour, 

 variegated with blackish lines and bands ; and 

 on each side of the body there are five round, 

 orange-coloured spots encircled with black. 

 Hence it is called by English entomologists 

 Sphinx (juiiiijintiiurulatusjthe five-spotted sphinx. 

 Its tongue can be unrolled to the length of five 

 or six inches, but, when not in use, is coiled 

 like a watch-spring, and is almost entirely 

 concealed, between two large and thick feelers, 

 under the head. 



"Among the numerous insects that infest our 

 noble elms the largest is a kind of sphinx, 

 which, from the four short horns on the fore- 

 part of the back, I have named Ceratomia 

 quadricornis, or four-horned ceratomia. On some 

 trees these sphinges exist in great numbers, 

 and their ravages then become very obvious ; 

 while a few, though capable of doing consider- 

 able injury, may escape notice among the thick 

 foliage which constitutes their food, or will 

 only be betrayed by the copious and regularly 

 formed pellets of excrement beneath the trees. 

 They are very abundant during the months of 

 July and August on the large elms which sur- 

 round the northern and eastern sides of the 

 common in Boston ; and towards the end of 

 August, when they descend from the trees for 

 the purpose of going into the ground, they may 

 often be seen crawling in the mall in consider- 

 able numbers. These caterpillars, at this period 

 of their existence, are about three inches and 



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