THTU 



Vol. Ill -se'^i^s, Vol.1 



NEW YORK, JUNE, 1880, 



No. 6, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



THE HUB PUBLISHING CO. of n. y. 



323 Pearl St., New Vork. 



TERMS Two dollars per annum, in advance. 



EDITORS : 



RILEY, Editor Washington, D. C. 



.... Ridgewood, N. J. 



CHAS 



A. S. FULLER, Assistant Ed 



NOTES ON OUR COMMONER INSECTS. 



THE EDITOR. 



The Isabella Tiger-moth 



(Arctia \Pyrrharctia\ isabella,'S>m\\.\\). 



Every one who reads this has doubtless 

 seen the black-and-tan caterpillar which 

 we herewith illustrate (Fig. 51,^?), but not 



[Fig. 



Hedgehog C.-^teri'ILlak : — a, larva ; 3, cocoon partly cut 

 open to show chrysalis ; c, moth (after Riley). 



every one is familiar with the moth which 

 this caterpillar produces. Harris, in his 

 well-known work on Injurious Insects, gives 

 a figure of the larva and a brief descrip- 

 tion, and Mr. B. Pickman Mann, in a recent 

 number oi Psyche (vol. ii, p. 270), gives a 

 further description, with some account of 

 the variations in color, and with the state- 



ment that he is not aware of any other 

 published description than that of Harris. 

 On page 143 of our 4th report on the " In 

 sects of Missouri," we gave the following 

 account of it, in connection with the figures 

 here used : 



The larva of this insect (Fig. 51, a) is ver)' com- 

 mon with us, and is familiarly known by the name 

 of the Hedgehog caterpillar. It is thickly cov- 

 ered with stiff black hairs on each end, and with 

 reddish hairs on the middle of the bod}'. These 

 hairs are pretty evenly and closely shorn, so as 

 to give the animal a velvety look ; and as they 

 have a certain elasticity, and the caterpillar curls 

 up at the slightest touch, it generally manages to 

 slip away when taken into the hand. It feeds on 

 plantain, clover, dandelion, grasses, and a variety 

 of other plants, and after passing the winter in 

 some sheUcred spot, rolled up like a hedgehog, 

 it comes out in the spring to feed upon the first 

 herbaceous vegetation, and finally spins its co- 

 coon (Fig. 51, /') and goes through its transforma- 

 tions. The cocoon is composed principally of the 

 caterpillar's hairs (which are barbed) interwoven 

 with coarse silk. The chrysalis is brown, with 

 tufts of very short, golden bristles, indicating the 

 position of the larval warts, and with a tuft of 

 barbs at the extremity. The moth is of a dull 

 orange color, with the front wings variegated with 

 dusky, and spotted with black, and the hind 

 wings somewhat lighter and also with dark spots. 



In some parts of Missouri this caterpillar 

 is called the "Fever-worm," a term which 

 originated in the South, and is more parti- 

 cularly applied to another larger and jet- 

 black caterpillar, with stiffer spines (larva 

 of Ecpantluria scribonia Stoll). 



There is but one annual generation of 

 this insect in New England and Canada, 

 according to authors, but even that far 

 north fresh moths frequently issue in the 

 Fall of the year. In Missouri they quite 

 commonly issue during August and Sep- 

 tember, or early enough to beget another 

 generation of larvae, and there can be little 

 doubt but that the species is double-brood- 

 ed in the more southern States. 



The variation in the color of this cater- 



