Ways and Habits of Caterpillars. 199 
but close inspection will show they have one or more small holes across which 
is stretched web spun by the caterpillars within. 
In another sub-family of the Pyralidie, viz., the Crambine, we have very 
excellent examples of the boring habit inthe caterpillars of species of Diatraa. 
They are known as the small moth-borer of the sugar-cane, though they live 
also in the stems of the razor-grass and other grasses. They are the greatest 
pest with which the sugar planter has to deal. They do not eat their egg-shell 
but, immediately on hatching, wander off, secrete themselves in the crown of 
the cane or in the axils of the leaves, end begin their ravages, the total results 
of which mean an annual loss of several thousand tons of sugar. 
Other good examples of the boring habit are met with in caterpillars of 
moths of the families Castniide, Cossidw, and Sestida. Castnia licus, the 
large moth-borer of the sugar-cane, belongs to the first-named family. lts 
caterpillars are very destructive, and tunnel in the cane-stools, and up into 
one or more canes for one or more joints. I have seen an instance where one 
bored upwards as many as nine ordinary joints, and another instance in which 
one bored up several joints and into two side shoots. Among the Cossidx 
there is a species of Langsdorfia, the caterpillar of which gnaws and bores the 
main roots of the pigeon pea (Cajanus indicus) as well as the extreme base of 
the stem. Among the Sesiide there is the caterpillar of Melitiia satyrini- 
formas, which is very destructive to our pumpkin, squash, and water-melon 
vines by boring their stems. 
The caterpillars of some moths belonging to the Tineide, Noctuide, 
Aretiide and Pyralide, feed on the contents of pods. The small flat 
pods ofa species of Desmanthus, a common weed, are tenanted by the 
caterpillar of a minute Tineid, while the seed-cases of another weed. 
the many-roots (Ruellia tuberosa), suffer severely from the ravages of the 
caterpillar of Cobubatha quadrifera, a Noctuid. The rattle-bush (Crotalarza sp.) 
with its bright yellow flowers, is conspicuous among our roadside weeds, and 
children are fond of playing with the dried pods, as the loose seeds within make 
a distinct rattle when the pods are shaken. The flowers and the contents of 
the green pods are eaten by the caterpillar of the beautiful Arctiid Utetheisa 
ornatrix, which even under the noonday sun may occasionally be noticed 
hovering about the plants. The caterpillars feed chiefly at dusk and at night, 
and during the heat of the day may often be found ensconced within pods the 
contents of which they have partially consumed. Sometimes nearly every 
full-grown pod on a rattle-bush has been bored and hollowed. 
One of the best known pod-feeders is the pigeon pea green “‘ worm ” which 
now and then through an oversight of the cook even gets boiled in our soup. 
This so-called: worm is in reality the caterpillar of the Pyralid Ancylostomia 
stercorea. Another Pyralid pod-feeding caterpillar which country childven may 
frequently have seen is that which devours the contents of the pods of the 
money-bush. Children eat the contents of the ripe pods, on opening which 
they often find the inside, in whole or in part, webby and wormy. The cater- 
pillars bore their way into the pods before the latter are fully ripe. They 
