22 



in which to pass the chrysalis stats, where it spins a web of silk in which its hind feet are 

 entangled, and having prepared and stretched across a silken band to sustain its body in 

 the middle, it casts its larva skin, and remains a dull brownish chrysalis until the following 

 spring. 



This insect is widely distributed, being found throughout the greater portion of the 

 United States and Canada. The larva feeds on a number of different trees, but chiefly 

 affects with us the apple, cherry, thorn, and basswood. 



The Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrhardia [Spilosoma] Isabella, — Sm.) 



There are but few of our readers who are not familiar with the caterpillar of the 

 Isabella Tiger Moth, one of our commonest " woolly bears," and one found we believe in 

 almost every part of Canada and the northern United States. This larva in common with 

 many other members of the family (Arctiadse) to which it belongs, hybernates during the 

 winter. It acquires nearly full growth in the autumn, and then having selected a 

 cosy sheltered spot under bark, log, rail, stone or board in which to hide, it coils itself up 

 into a sort of ball and sleeps through the long and dreary winter ; and about the time 

 when the birds come back, and the warm days of spring begin, this bristly creature rouses 

 itself to commence life anew. At times it is deceived by occasional warm days in mid- 

 winter when it may be seen wandering about in search of food, but again seeks some 

 hiding-place and resumes its state of torpidity with returning cold. It is one of the few 

 caterpillars which present themselves to us full grown in early spring, and from its pecu- 

 liar appearance can scarcely fail to attract attention. It has not towander far for food, for 

 being possessed of a very accommodating appetite it feasts on almost the first green thing 

 it meets with, grass or weed, or early plant, and having fed but a short time, it spins its 

 cocoon, and becomes a chrysalis. 



The caterpillar is about an inch and a quarter long ; its head and body are black, and 

 it is thickly covered with tufts of short, stiff, bristly hairs, which are dull red along the 

 middle of the body and black at each end. When handled it immediately coils itself into 

 a ball and remains for some time motionless. It is very teijacioiis of life : we have known 

 the larva to be frozen in a solid lump of ice, and when thawed out move around as if no- 

 thing had happened. It sometimes occurs, although very rarely, that this larva becomes 

 a chrysalis early in the fall, and produces the moth the same season. We have never met 



with an instance of this but once, see Canadian 

 ■ Entomologist, vol. i, p. 26 ; its usual course is 



^MgBj^^^ n I // ^^^^^ that which has already been partially described, 

 ^^^^^fel^^ VW/ ^^^^^^^^V cocoon, h, fig. 15, is spun in some se- 



^^^^^^^^^JML^^^^^^^^^ eluded nook, and is of a dark colour, of an elon- 

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HH|^ gated oval form and curiously wrought with a 

 ^^^^Hp^m^H^^^P network of silk, in the meshes of which are in- 

 ^^KKw/^^B^^^mBr terwoven the black and red hairs from the body of 



^^^^ iB^^^^^ caterpillar. Within this enclosure the insect 



tIF changes to a dark brown chrysalis, and remains 



as such about two or three weeks, sometimes lon- 

 ger, when the moth having burst its shelly cover- 

 ing, softens the silky fibres of which its cocoon is 

 formed by a liquid with which it is furnished, 

 and makes its exit through a hole at one end of 

 the cocoon. 



The moth, a, fig. 15, when its wings are 

 spread, measures about two inches. Its wings 

 are of a pale yellowish buff colour, with a few 

 Oil some specimens than in others. The hind wings 

 are sometimes paler than the fore wings, and at other times tinged with orange red, while 

 other specimens we have observed that the under surface of the fore wings assumed 



dull blackish dots more numerous 



in 



a dull rosy hue. The body is a little deeper and richer in colour than the wings, and the 

 abdomen is ornamented with longitudinal rows of black dots ; on the upper surface there 



