162 NATURAL HISTORY. 



cushion-formed caterpillar is very injurious to the fir 

 saplings. 



The Brown Bear (bombyx caja), also known as the 

 Tiger Moth ; thorax brown, with two red stripes ; upper 

 wings brown, marked with yellow-white ; lower wings 

 and abdomen red. spotted with black. The long, thickly- 

 haired caterpillars are black, thinly dotted with red, 

 brown, and blue. In August the butterfly deposits about 

 three hundred green eggs on the under side of leaves ; 

 in three weeks the caterpillars come forth and feed on 

 grass, salad, potato-tops, rose-leaves, etc. ; the next May 

 they spin a large web, which covers small cocoons, con- 

 taining the black pupae. The transitionary stage is 

 accomplished in four weeks, and a winged insect springs 

 into life. The Ichneumon flies are their great enemies. 



The Matron (bombyx matronula), plate 23, fig. 9, 

 has brown upper wings, adorned with six sulphur-colored 

 spots ; lower wings bright yellow, with three transverse 

 stripes of black. The caterpillar is very hairy, and 

 varies in color according to its age. They feed on the 

 leaves of the linden, pear, service-berry, etc., and remain 

 during the winter under the moss. They do not pass 

 into the pupa state until in the spring of the second 

 year. They are also called bears. 



The Great Night Peacock's Eye (bombyx pavonia 

 major) measures five inches from tip to tip of wings ; is 

 dark gray, marked with yellow ; nearly in the middle of 

 each wing is an eye-shaped spot of bright blue, yellow, 

 and red. The caterpillars are mostly found on pear 

 trees ; they are of a yellowish-green color, tuberculated 

 with blue, from which knobs proceed black hairs. When 

 ready for the transition state, they make a very curious 

 cocoon, being formed internally with stiff, convergent, 



