THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



430 



panions, bent on their missions of destruc- 

 tion ami devastation. 



These caterpillars do no esseritial injury 

 to the cotton, especially when weeds 

 abound, as they content themselves with 

 the grass growing between the rows; and, 

 unless very numerous, they cannot be 

 classed among those doing much harm to 

 the general crop, and are mentioned here 

 principally as having been so frequently 

 mistaken for the real cotton-caterpillar. 

 When pressed by necessity, however, as 

 has already been stated, they will feed 

 upon cotton leaves. I raised about thirty 

 of them upon this food alone, merely as 

 an experiment, and they grew and per- 

 fected their transformations, although ap- 

 pearing to prefer a grass diet if it could 

 be obtained. When about to change, they 

 formed cocoons of silk under stones or in 

 the ground near the surface, interwoven 

 with particles of earth, and came out per- 

 fect moths from the 24th to the 30th of 

 October; and, as these specimens were 

 kept in a room without artificial heat, I 

 conjectured that those in the open fields 

 would appear about the same time. 



At a plantation in the vicinity of Co- 

 lumbus, where the caterpillars were very 

 numerous, and had already devoured all 

 the grass on one side of a field, which 

 was divided into two equal parts by a 

 broad and sandy carriage road passing 

 through the centre of it, the grass on the 

 otfier side having been untouched, it was 

 interesting to observe the operations of 

 numerous colonies of ants that had form- 

 ed their holes or nests in the road, and 

 were lying in wait for any unfortunate 

 grass-worm, the natural desire of which 

 for a fresh supply of food, should tempt 

 it to cross this dangerous path. First, one 

 ant more vigilant than the rest would rush 

 to the attack; then another, and another, 

 until the poor caterpillar, entirely covered 

 by its pigmy foes, and completely ex- 

 hausted in strength by its unavailing ef- 

 forts to escape, was finally obliged to suc- 

 cumb to superior numbers and die as qui- 

 etly as possible, when the carcass was im- 

 mediately carried off by the captors to 

 their nests, or, when too heavy to be car- 

 ried away at once, they fed upon it as it 

 lay in the road. This warfare was carried 

 on every day as long as the grass worms 

 prevailed, and no doubt their numbers 



were diminished in this way to a conside- 

 rable extent. 



The grass-caterpillars, when in confine- 

 ment, very often kill and devour each 

 other; and, when *one is maimed in the 

 least, it stands a very poor chance for its 

 life. Several intelligent planters state that 

 when the grass and weeds are entirely de- 

 voured, and no other vegetable food is to 

 be found, they will attack each other and 

 feed upon the still living and writhing bo- 

 dies of their former companions. One 

 grass-caterpillar, which was kept in con- 

 finement, although furnished with an abun- 

 dance of green food, actually appeared to 

 prefer to feed upon other caterpillars, no 

 matter of what kind, so long as their bo- 

 dies were not defended by long, bristling 

 hairs, or spines. 



The grass-caterpillar is from an inch and 

 a half to an inch and three-quarters in 

 length. A longitudinal light-brownish line 

 runs down the centre, and two yellow 

 lines along each side of the back, which 

 is somewhat veined with black lines, and 

 is of a dark color, marked with black 

 spots, from each of which grows a short 

 bristle, or hair. Below these yellow 

 stripes, the sides are of a dark color, al- 

 most black ; beneath this, extends a light- 

 colored line, in which the spiracles are 

 placed ; the lower part of the body is of 

 a dirty green, spotted with black ; the 

 head is black, marked with two lines of a 

 yellowish color, forming an angle on the 

 top; the body is somewhat hairy This 

 caterpillar has six pectoral, eight ventral, 

 and two anal feet. 



The above description applies only to 

 the brightest-colored specimens of the 

 grass- worm, as they vary much in color 

 and markings, some of them being almost 

 black, and showing indiscriminately their 

 stripes The chrysalis is brownish black, 

 and is formed in a cocoon of silk under 

 the ground, the sand and small pebbles 

 being so interwoven with it as to cause 

 the whole cocoon to appear like an ovoid 

 ball of earth ; but it is never found webbed 

 up in leaves, as is the case with the true 

 cotton-caterpillar, already described. The 

 moth measures about an inch and one-fifth 

 across the wings when they are expanded ; 

 the upper wings are grey, slightly clouded 

 with a darker color, and a lighter spot or 

 ring is faintly seen in the centre ; the 

 under-wings are of a yellowish-white. 



