CATERPILLAR. 



CATERPILLAR. 



"These insects belong to an order called LE- ' 

 PIDOPTERA, which means scaly wings; for the 

 mealy powder with which their wings are co- 

 vered, when seen under a powerful microscope, 

 is found to consist of little scales, lapping over 

 each other like the scales of fishes, and im- 

 planted into the skin of the wings by short 

 steins. The body of these insects is also more 

 or less covered with the same kind of scales, 

 together with hair or down in some species. 

 The tongue consists of two tubular threads 

 placed side by side, and thus forming an in- 

 strument for suction, which, when not in use, 

 is rolled up spirally beneath the head, and is 

 more or less covered and concealed on each 

 side by a little scaly or hairy jointed feeler. 

 The shoulders or wing-joints of the fore-wings 

 are covered on each side by a small triangular 

 piece, forming a Ijfnd of epaulette, or shoulder- 

 cover; and between the head and the thorax is 

 a narrow piece, clothed with scales or hairs 

 sloping backwards, which may be called the 

 collar. The wings have a few branching veins, 

 generally forming one or two large meshes 

 on the middle. The legs are six in number, 

 though only four are used in walking by some 

 butterflies, in which the first pair are very 

 short, and are folded like a tippet on the breast ; 

 and the feet are five-jointed, and are terminated, 

 each, by a pair of claws. 



"It would be difficult, and indeed impossible, 

 to arrange the Lepidopterous insects according 

 to their forms, appearance, and habits, in the 

 caterpillar state, because the caterpillars of 

 many ->f them are as yet unknown ; an 

 fore it is found expedient to classify them 

 mostly according to the characters furnished 

 by tln-m in the winged 



"We may first divide the Lepidoptera into 

 three great sections, called butterflies, hawk- 

 moths, and moths, corresponding to the genera 

 Pupilio, fy/mir, ///if/ Phnltfna of Linnaeus. 



"The butterflies (Papiliones) have threadlike 

 antennne, which are knobbed at the end; the 

 fore-wings in some, and all the wings in the 

 greater number, are elevated perpendicularly 

 and turned back to back, when at rest : they 

 have generally two little spurs on the hind-legs, 

 and they fly by day only. Their caterpillars, 

 when about to transform, suspend them-rlves 

 by the tail, and are not enclosed in cocoons. 



"The hawk-moths (Sphinges) generally have 

 the antennae thickened in the middle and taper- 

 ing at each end, and most often hooked at the 

 tip; the wings are narrow in proportion to 

 their length, and are confined together by a 

 bristle or bunch of stiff hairs on the shoulder 

 of each hind-wing, which is retained by a cor- 

 responding hook on the under side of each 

 fore-wing. All the wings, when at rest, are 

 more or less inclined like a roof, the upper 

 ones covering the lower wings : there are two 

 pairs of spurs on the hind-legs. A few fly by 

 day, but the greater number in the morning 

 and evening twilight. 



"In the moths (Phalanx) the antennae are 

 neither knobbed at the end nor thickened in 

 the middle, but taper from the base to the ex- 

 tremity, and are either naked, like a bristle, or 

 are feathered on each side. The wings are 

 confined together by bristles and hooks, the 

 35 



first pair covering the hind-wings, and are 

 more or less sloping when at rest; and there 

 are two pairs of spurs to the hind-legs. These 

 insects fly mostly by night." 



Among American destructive caterpillars de- 

 scribed by Dr. Harris, are the larvce of those 

 butterflies called Asterias, seen in great abun- 

 dance upon certain flowers in the month of 

 July particularly on the sweet-scented phlox. 

 These flies, which are of a black colour with a 

 double row of yellow dots on the back, lay 

 their eggs, in this and the following month, on 

 various umbellate plants, placing them singly 

 on the different parts of the leaves and stems. 

 The fly is large, its wings expanding from 

 three and a half to four inches. The hinder 

 wings are tailed, and have seven blue spots, 

 with an eye-like spot of an orange colour near 

 their hinder angle. The caterpillars of this 

 tribe, Dr. Harris has found on various garden 

 vegetables and plants, such as the carrot,pa rs ley, 

 anise, dill, caraway, and fennel ; also 

 upon nightshade, hemlock, and other plants of 

 the same poisonous family, which, he observes, 

 constituted the appropriate food for these in- 

 sects, before the exotics just named became 

 abundant and furnished them in greater varie- 

 ty and profusion. 



"Their injury to these cultivated plants," 

 says the doctor, " is by no means inconsider- 

 able; they not only eat the leaves, but are 

 particularly fond of the blossoms and voting 

 I have taken twenty caterpillars on one 

 parsb-v which wa> ^"i" 1 -' to sn-.l. The 

 e ITU'S, hud in Julv and Air/iixt. are hatched 

 <<M>ri afterwards, and the caterpillars come to 

 their growth towards the end of September, or 

 the beginning of October; they then suspend 

 themselves, become chrysahds, in which state 

 they remain during the winter, and are nox 

 transformed to butterflies till the last of May 

 or the beginning of June in the following 

 year." 



"I know of no method so effectual for de- 

 stroying these caterpillars as gathering them 

 by hand and crushing them. An expert per- 

 son will readily detect them by their ravages 

 on the plants which they inhabit ; and a few 

 minutes devoted, every day or two, to a care- 

 ful search in the garden, during the season of 

 their depredations, will suffice to remove them 

 entirely. 



" In Europe there are several kinds of cater- 

 pillars which live exclusively on the crucife- 

 rous or oleraceous plants, such as the cabbage, 

 broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip, and 

 mustard, and oftentimes do considerable injury 

 to them. The prevailing colour of these cater 

 pillars is green, and that of the butterflies pro 

 duced from them, white. They belong to a 

 genus called Pontia; in which the hind-wings 

 are not scolloped nor tailed, but are rounded 

 and entire on the edges, and are grooved on 

 the inner edge to receive the abdomen/' 



In the northern and western portions of 

 Massachusetts, there is a white butterfly, the 

 wings of which expand about two inches. This 

 in all its states agrees with the character of 

 the European insect. It is the potherb pontia 

 (Pantia oleracea), a white butterfly, described 

 bv Dr. Harris in the New England Farmer ia 

 J o~ 



