234 



INJUEIOUS INSECTS 



found on tlie Grape-vine, and Avlien about one-fourtli 

 grown bear a considerable resemblance to the mature 

 larva of the Grape-vine Plume. They seldom aj^pear, 

 however, until that species has disappeared, and may 

 always be distinguished from it by their semi-gregarious 

 habit at this time of their life, and by living exposed 

 on the leaf (generally the underside) instead of forming 

 a retreat within which to hide themselves, as does the 

 Plume. 



The Yellow Bear is found of all sizes from^ June to 

 October; and though quite fond of the Vine, is by no 

 means confined to that plant. It is, in fact, a vejy gen- 

 eral feeder, being found on a great variety of herbaceous 

 plants, both wild and cultivated, as butternut, lilac, 

 beans, peas, convolvulus, corn, currant, gooseberry, cot- 

 ton, sunflower, plantain, smart- weed, verbenas, gera- 

 niums, and almost any other plant with soft, tender 

 leaves. These caterpillars are indeed so indifferent as to 

 their diet, that we have actually known one to subsist 

 entirely, from the time it cast its last skin till it spun up, 

 on dead bodies of the Camel Cricket {Mantis Carolina). 



When young they are invariably bluish-white, but 

 w^hen full grown they may be found either of a pale 

 cream-color, yellow, light brown, or very dark-brown, 

 the different colors often appearing in the same brood of 

 worms, as we have proved by experiment. Yellow is the 

 most common color, and in all the varieties the venter is 

 dark, and there is a characteristic longitudinal black 

 line, more or less interrupted, along each side of the 

 body, and a transverse line of the same color (sometimes 

 faint) between the joints; the head and feet are ochre- 

 yellow, and the hairs spring from dark yellow w^arts, of 

 which there are ten on each joint, those on joint 1 being 

 scarcely distinguishable, and those on joint 12 coalescing. 

 There are two broods of these worms each year, the 

 broods intermixing, and the last passing the winter in the 



