INEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY THOMAS W. SHEPARU, ROGERS' BlilLlMNGS, CONGRESS STREET, (FOURTH UOOR t ROM STATE STREET.) 



Vol. I. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1823. 



No. 49. 



From the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 



R. T. VV. HARRIS, OF MILTON, UPON THE 

 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALT-MARSH 

 CATERPILLAR. 



In the present stale of agriculture, hay has 

 IS become an important product to the farmer in 



at maturity, there are two shades ; some being 

 of a dun colour, and olhers much darker. 



The body of all true caterpillars is divided 

 into twelve segments besides the head. 



Each segment, in this insect, is covered with 

 twelve yellowish tubercles, arranged, rather ir- 

 regularly, six upon each side : from these pro 



this vicinity. From the high price and the in- ceed the hairs, giving (he predominant colour, 

 creased demand for the imported and cultivated' The tubercles appear to be analogous in func- 

 the indigenous and natural growth of '='^" to the bulbs ot the hair in the human sub- 



grasses. 



the soil must rise in value ; and of this perhaps 

 none is more valuable, on the seabord, than that 

 of the salt-meadows. 



But various causes have contributed to disap- 

 !tiii point our hopes in the crop of salt-hay, and 

 among those, the most apparently unavoidable 



ject : they are, in truth, but common bulbs, from 

 which tufts of hairs grow and are nourished, in 

 the same way as each single hair grows and is 

 nourished from its appropriate bulb. Between 

 the third and fourth tubercle, on each side of 

 the median* line, is a stigma or spiracle, of 



are the ravages of insectsi ' Of these, the cater- "'^'f'' 'here are eighteen, or two in every seg- 

 pillars and grasshoppers have become the mosl,™^"' "'""^^ ^^^i'' except the second, third, and 

 formidable, by the great extent and the annual 'ast- The spiracles are the organs of respira- 

 increase of theirdevastations. Meadows, where -''»"' ^^^ '■""e "'« ^""^'^^ '" number, in all the true 

 they have foraged, are entirelv stripped of theii; '^^'^'"P'"'*''-- 



covering ; every green blade disappears before The colour of the body, divested of the hair, 

 them ;— what the caterpillars have left being de-l 's yellow, shaded at the sides with black; and 



voured by the grasshoppers. 



The object of this paper is to attempt to elu- 

 cidate the natural history of the former of these 

 insects, with the hope that it may lead to some 

 sure method of exterminating them, or of limit- 

 ing their ravages to a shorter period. 



Caterpillars were" observed, upon the salt- 

 roarshes, bordering Charles' river, near Cam- 

 bridge, some ten or twelve years ago ; since 

 which time they have gradually multiplied ai' 1 

 extended over the contig^o^s i"Kr.'»hc-. Tb»- 

 were once by a high tide and strong wind driv- 

 en upon Boston-neck, near to Roxbury line, 

 where they laid in " winrows," apjiarently dead ; 

 but after the storm had abated they were resus- 

 citated by the heat of the sun, and commenced 

 their depredations anew, overrunning garden? 

 in that vicinity and destroying every green lea) 

 in their path. Thence, I presume, they mi- 

 grated to the eastern side of the neck, and have 

 followed the meadows as far as Quincy. To 

 what distance they have spread on the north 01 

 Charles* river, I have yet to learn. They are 

 also found on the marshes in Kingston ;' bui 

 probably originated from a different source from 

 those in the environs of Boston. 



The salt-marsh caterpillars are produced from 

 eggs, laid by moths in the middle of June, which 

 are hatched in the air, in seven or eight days 

 afterwards. These eggs are nearly round, less 

 than a grain of msstard, and about eight hun- 

 dred in number from one female. The cater- 

 pillars are small and feeble at first, eating only 

 the most tender part of the blade of grass ; but 

 rapidly increase in growth, and, in seven weeks 

 or fifty days,* attain their full size, having re- 

 peatedly cast their skins. Individual*, at this 

 period average one and three quarters of an 

 inch in length. While growing they change 

 the colour of their hair very remarkably ; — 

 being nearly of a mouse colour when small", and 

 of a brownish hue when fully grown. Of these, 



* They continue in the feeding state about as 

 long as the apple-tree caterpillar, which is produced by 

 the Pbatena Ncustria of Linne. 



there is a blackish line extending along the top 

 of the back. The spiracles are white and very 

 distinct. 



The hair proceeding from (he three upper- 

 nnost tubercles, on each side of a segment is al- 

 n"ost black, as well as that from all the four first 

 segments of the body. That from the tubercles 

 li the sides is of a much lighter shade. On the 

 tvo last segments of the body the hair is much 

 longer than the rest. 



Tills c.-iterpillar, like most others, has oigh( 

 eyes, four upon each side of the head. These 

 are not to be distinguished without the aid of a 

 microscope. They are situated just above those 

 whit5 feelers, so plainly seen attached to the 

 upper lip. The eyes are here arranged in a 

 semicircle, whose convex side is directed ante- 

 riorly. 



The jaws are (wo, strong and corneous, and 

 their operation, in eating, may be distinctly 

 heard as well as seen. 



It has sixteen feet; — six anterior and horny, 

 and ten posterior and fleshy. These enable it 

 to run with considerable celerity, as we may 

 see, when the insect is at its full size ; at which 

 period it commences the wandering state, 

 and leaves the meadows in search of a place of 

 security for forming its cocoon. 



These caterpillars are endued with a great 

 degree of vitality ; for long immersion in water 

 does not destroy life. Being often exposed tu 

 that element, they seem provided with the 

 power of enduring its approaches. They feed 

 twice in the day ; about ten o'clock in the mor- 

 ning, and four in the afternoon. If overtaken 

 by the tide while feeding, they mount to the lop 

 of the grass; and then, if obliged to relinquish 

 their hold, contracting themselves into a circu- 

 ar form, they commit themselves to the water. 

 On this they float and are carried to the superi- 



* I have taken the liberty to employ this phrase, 

 which is a technical one in Anatomy and Physiology, 

 for that line which divides the animal into two equal 

 and symmetrical halves, and I wonld indicate by it a 

 dark line running upon the top of the back, the whole 

 length of the body of this insect. 



or parts or borders of the marsh. There they 

 arc left, with the wash of the sea, in heaps, but 

 alive, anil in a short lime ready to recommence 

 thi'ir depredations upon the meadows. But 

 when not engaged in feeding they conceal them- 

 selves at the roots of the grass, where they are 

 equally secure from the effects of the water, 

 even though covered by it. In this way also 

 they pass the night. The hair, upon their bod- 

 ies, appears to po.-ssess a repelling power, which 

 secures the spiracles from the admission or ac- 

 cess of the water ; for, were (his to be the case, 

 the insect would be drowned. We should sup- 

 pose that the tide, on receding, would sweep 

 away many of these insects ; but this is not the 

 case : for in consequence of the irregularity of 

 our shores, and of the power, which these cat- 

 erpillars have of remaining, uninjured, on the 

 surface of the water, for a long time, they gen- 

 erally gain some place of lodgment and safely. 



Their most favourite food is the ' Onion grns»,' 

 which is very succulent ;* but tliey are not fas- 

 tidiODS, and eat with avidity ' Fox' and ' Botlom- 

 grass,'' and even ' Thatch'' and '■Sedge.'' Of (he 

 ' Black-grass't they are not so fond, probably be- 

 cause it ripens sooner than the others, and is 

 found nearer the upland, and thus, before it is 

 reached, it becomes too dry to iuraish the juices 

 by which (hey are nourished. 



By the fir.st of August, generally, the«e insects 

 have attained their greatest size. They now 

 become very voracious, and continue eating all 

 the day and night, without intermission. Soon 

 they leav« the meadows, aggregated in great 

 numbers, and commence the wandering state, .or 

 ' begin to run,' as is the phrase, devouring every 

 thing in their progress. Corn fields, gardens, 

 and even the coarse and r^nk produce of road- 

 sides afford them temporary nourishment, until 

 they have found a place of sec.^iriiv from tide 

 and weather, and concealment from their ene- 

 mies of the animal creation. A siane-wall, a 

 wood-pile, fencing-stuff, and even i.-iy-mows 

 and stacks are the resorts of these caler,.il|ars, 

 where they intend to take up their winter qcip- 

 ters, and construct their cocoons. I have heari 

 of their being dug up, in vast quantitie.s, from 

 the ground upon the eiigc of a salt-marsh ; but, 

 in this instance, it is probable that, being pre- 

 vented by ditches in their attempts to escape 

 from the marshes, they were prompted by in- 

 stinct to take refuge deep in the bank. 



The cocoons are formed ot silk interwoven 

 with the hairs of their bodies, and lined with a 

 silky lamina of a dense texture. These cocoons 

 retain the colours peculiar to the caterpillar: 

 those being brown, which are fiibricated by the 

 dark larva, and the olhers ranch lighter colour- 

 ed. If we examine the recent cocoon, we shall 

 find the caterpillar within it entirely destitute 

 of hair, and much contracted. In a few days 

 it casts its slough, and becomes a chrysalis, of a 

 dark brown colour, and about three quarters of 

 an inch long. In this state it passes the wiii- 



* It is so full of juice as to be with difficulty dried. 



t Tri^lockin viarilimuni, L. sometimes called the 

 sea arrow grass. This is considered by Mr. Lowbll ae 

 the most valuable species. 



