JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 17, 1870. 



nearly full-fed, and do not require much eare or attention to 

 bring them through, the bulk of the hybernating individuals', 

 if brought in-doors, or otherwise placed in confinement, are 

 difficult to rear. But still, those who desire to gain a thorough 

 insight into caterpillar history will devote themselves, as op- 

 portunity offers, to the work of seeking for colonies, or isolated 

 individuals, even at a season when such a pursuit is less attrac- 

 tive than in the summer season. And there are certain species, 

 it must be remembered, which may be detected in winter, when 

 the trees are bare and herbage is scant, with more facility than 

 when vegetable life is at its height. Ingenious, too, as are the 

 modes of concealment adopted by some hybernating cater- 

 pillars, they ought not to baffle the determined collector en- 

 tirely, though he may require several successive seasons to pass 

 by ere he can say that he has succeeded in fully elucidating 

 the life-hi.?toiy of some one or other of these. 



Amongst these hybernators is one to whose peculiarities I 

 have paid much attention, having at various times reared a 

 large number of the caterpillars. This produces the Moth 

 known as the Scarce Vapourer (Orgyia gonostigms), and the 

 species is highly interesting because it is so closely allied to 

 the very common Vapourer Moth, which we see dashing wildly 

 about in London suburbs, and in the vicinity of other towns 

 during the summer. The other species is confined to a very 

 few localities, one of which is in Surrey, near the metropolis ; 

 and as the female moth is destitute of wings, and cannot 

 journey from place to place, it is not likely to become more 

 common. The caterpillar, by the movements of which alone 

 could it be distributed, is not very migratory ; and the circum- 

 stance that it lives through the winter, exposes it to various 

 dangers which the common species escapes, since through the 

 cold months it is in the egg state. The caterpillars of the 

 Scarce Vapourer are hatched about the end of July, from eggs 

 deposited in a cluster (sometimes as many as four hundred) ; 

 and at first emergence they keep pretty closely together, 

 separating from each other by degrees as they increase in size, 

 but they grow very slowly, and soon prepare to hybernate. As 

 is the case with other species, they do not always locate them- 

 selves for the winter on or near their food plant, which renders 

 a search for them more difficult. According to my observa- 

 tions, they do not form any protection for themselves, usually 

 resting near the ground on a twig near the centre of a bush. 

 In some cases, they have been found actually on the earth, and 

 observers have reported also instances where these caterpillars 

 had sheltered themselves by weaving a web around a leaf or 

 branch, but this is probably exceptional. Remaining without 

 food until the spring, the caterpillars of the Scarce Vapourer 

 are quite ready in April to commence an attack upon the Sal- 

 low or Hawthorn buds, taking afterwards to the Oak or Hazel, 

 which they prefer. The ground colour is a beautiful orange 

 ■with four rows of black spots coalescing so as to form stripes ; 

 from the fifth to the eighth segment we find a brown upright 

 tuft of hair arising from each ; the second segment has two 

 long pencils of hairs which point forwards ; on the last seg- 

 ment there are three tufts of black hairs, directed backwards. 

 A considerable portion of the hairs are used by the caterpillar 

 in forming its cocoon, and the chrysalis is also hairy. 



A very local moth is that called by collectors the Reed Leopard 

 (Microgaster arundinis), and it is one of those species which 

 beguile the insect-hunter into the uninviting fenny districts of 

 Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire. Like the Swallow-tail 

 Butterfly, each year tends to diminish the numbers occurring, 

 through the reclaiming of the fens. The caterpillar lives from 

 summer until the following spring, and probably feeds through 

 the winter unless in severe weather. It is of a dirty white 

 colour, with a horny head, and a plate of similar texture on the 

 next segment, very much resembling a maggot in appearance. 

 The egg is deposited by the mother moth on the stem of the 

 common Reed, only one being laid on each plant. The young 

 caterpillar at once eats its way to the interior of the stem, and 

 generally works its way upward towards the top of the plant, 

 though it has the power of moving up and down. The chrysalis 

 is long, and has rows of minute hooks, by means of which it is 

 able to change its position if needful, giving birth to the moth 

 in June. 



The history of the Black-veined White Butterfly (Aporia 

 cratffigi) is very interesting. Classed, as it is, with the com- 

 mon Whites, and bearing a resemblance to them in some par- 

 ticulars, it is much scarcer, and differs greatly in its habits. 

 The caterpillars, directly they are hatched, construct a sort of 

 tent, under which they feed, but do not attain any considerable 

 size during the autumn. A similar, though thicker, tent serves 



them for an abode through the winter season, when the prying 

 eye of the entomologist, scanning the boughs of the Hawthorn 

 or the Pear, may perhaps discover it, and carry off the colony 

 as a prize. Certain districts in Wales and contiguous English 

 counties yield this species most abundantly in some seasons, 

 and it occurs in Kent near Paversham, and also, it is said, in 

 Devonshire. The caterpillar of the Black-veined White, when 

 full grown, has the head of a smoky black, covered with hairs 

 of two different lengths, the shorter being black, the longer 

 white. The body is a rather deeper black, and it has two rust- 

 coloured stripes, which a moderate magnifying power resolves 

 at once into a number of minute spots ; in the centre of each of 

 these there is a black dot, from which springs a rust-coloured 

 hair. Underneath, the surface of the body is grey, sprinkled 

 with black dots, and dotted with whitish hairs. When full-fed, 

 this caterpillar spreads a silken web over the twig on which it 

 has been feeding, and, fixing itself thereto, turns to a chrysalis. 

 Sometimes, however, like its relatives the Whites, it will crawl 

 from the tree or shrub to some wall or paling. The butterfly, 

 which appears in July, flies swiftly by day, but at night is 

 easily taken in those places where it occurs as it rests on the 

 flowers in full view. 



A particularly local butterfly is that pretty species the Marbled 

 White (Arge Galathea), and as it very seldom flies far beyond 

 the meadow where it was bred, there is some encouragement 

 for the collector to took for the caterpillar, which feeds upon 

 various grasses. It is but small when it hybernates, remaining 

 apparently without eating all through the wiDter, though some 

 species, also grass-feeders, nibble the blades occasionally if the 

 weather is mild. When feeding, at the least annoyance or 

 alarm the caterpillar of the Marbled White falls from the plant 

 in a curved posture, lying without motion for some time. The 

 head is rough, sometimes green, sometimes brown ; the hue of 

 the body also varies similarly, but always a little darker than 

 the head ; down the middle of the back is a dark stripe, on 

 each side of this is a narrow stripe, pale red, and just below the 

 spiracles (which are deep black) there is a whitish stripe. The 

 body is stout, rather fusiform, and at the anal extremity ex- 

 hibits two points, in which all the stripes meet ; every part is 

 studded with minute warts and short hairs. No preparation 

 for becoming a chrysalis appears to be made by this cater- 

 pillar ; descending from its food-plant, it settles low down 

 amongst the herbage, and turns to a short brown chrysalis, 

 partly transparent, from which the perfect insect soon emerges. 



In places where the common Broom grows plentifully, we are 

 almost sure to find in November, and through the winter, the 

 young caterpillars of the Grass Emerald (Pseudoterpna cytis- 

 aria). Hatched during July, they grow but little in the au- 

 tumn, and then fix themselves upon the stems of the plant, and 

 with the head raised from the surface they remain unmoved in 

 the coldest weather, re-awakening to life about the end of April. 

 When getting near their full size they rest on the twigs in a 

 singular position, with the head bent under and the lege 

 crowded together and brought close to the month. The whole 

 body is covered with small points, as if shagreened, the head 

 being deeply notched on the crown, while from the segment 

 behind it rise two blunt protuberances, which point over the 

 head ; on the last segment are two points of a pinkish hue. 

 The general colour of both head and body is dull green, with 

 pink on the crown of the head and the protuberances behind 

 it ; a very narrow brownish stripe runs down the back, and 

 along each side is a white stripe, edged with red, which is in- 

 terruped on the fourth segment ; the spiracles show distinctly, 

 being paler than the ground colour. When these caterpillars 

 have ceased to feed they draw two or three leaves loosely to- 

 gether, and under this shelter become chrysalides about the 

 end of June. 



Another hybernating geometer caterpillar, which bears some 

 resemblance to the preceding, is that of the Common Marbled 

 Carpet (Cidaria russata) ; unlike it, however, it feeds occasion- 

 ally during the winter in mild weather, being then found upon 

 or near the wild Strawberry, in the summer it has also been 

 detected on Birch and Sallow. This caterpillar rests usually 

 with the body extended, but, if touched, at once raises its head 

 and bends it under, in the " volute form." The head is of a 

 rather duller colour than the body, the eyes, which are black, 

 showing conspicuously ; the body pale yellow-green, with a 

 stripe of dark green down the back. In some specimens there 

 is a beautiful purplish stripe along the sides. All over the 

 body are minute white warts, each giving off a hair ; at the anal 

 extremity are two protuberances, usually rose colour ; the legs 

 and claspers are of a dull red colour. The individuals of: this 



