31 



double-brooded with us, The eggs of the first brood were found this year about the middle 

 of June, the young larv£e appearing in considerable numbers a few days later, developing 

 into full size, and with full powers of destruction about the middle of July. They then 

 entered the chrysalis state and produced the moths during the last days of July or first in 

 August. These latter paired and deposited eggs again, from the middle of August to the 

 beginning of September, which produced the second brood of larvse, maturing late in Sep- 

 tember. Long after this occasional eggs were found, even as late as the middle of Sep- 

 tember, and an odd specimen of the larva was also found now and then till the middle of 

 October, at which time two full-grown specimens were taken, and one about half grown. 

 The former soon changed to chrysalids, but the latter died. Some examples of the larvae, 

 especially at this late season of the year, exhibit remarkable variations in color, assuming 

 a delicate reddish pink hue, with markings of darker shades of red and brown. This so 

 materially alters the appearance of the caterpillar, that it might be readily mistaken at 

 first glance for a different species. A more careful examination, however, would show 

 the same arrangement of dots and spots as in the normal form. Sometimes this change of 

 color takes place a little before the insect enters the chrysalis state, although not always 

 so, for we have had them transform without such change of tints, and at other times we 

 have found larvse not much more than half grown with all the dark hues above referred 

 to, but, as already mentioned, these latter have usually been found later in the season. 

 J. A. Lintner, Esq., of Albany, N.Y., states, in the proceedings of the Entomological Soci- 

 ety of Philadelphia, vol. 3, p. 663, that he has noticed the caterpillar previous to this 

 change of color, to pass with its mouth over the entire surface of the body, even to the 

 tip of the horn, covering it with a coating of apparently glutinous matter, the operation 

 lasting about two hours. 



This larva is very destructive to the foliage of the vine, and is becoming in our neigh- 

 borhood every year more troublesome. Its appetite is enormous, one or two, when nearly 

 full grown, will almost strip a small vine of its foliage in two or three nights. Harris in 

 his "Insects injurious to vegetation," referring to this caterpillar, says, that " they are not 

 content with eating the leaves alone, in their progress from leaf to leaf down the stem, 

 they stop at every cluster of fruit, and either from stupidity or disappointment, nip off 

 she stalks of the half grown grapes, and allow them to fall to the ground untasted. I have 

 gathered under a single vine, above a quart of unripe grapes thus detached during the 

 night by these caterpillars." As far as our experience goes, we have never seen nor have 

 we ever heard of their manifesting this evil disposition towards Canadian fruit growers — 

 mayhap their manners have improved in this respect within late years. 



The most effectual way of getting rid of these creatures, where their numbers are 

 sufficient to prove troublesome, is to pick them off the vines by hand and kill them. Their 

 destructive efforts are so painfully apparent, that their exact whereabouts is not usually 

 difficult to determine. Sometimes where the foliage is dense, they may be more readily 

 tracked out by observing their large dark brown castings, which strew the ground under 

 their places of resort. But nature has provided a remedy in the shape of a minute para- 

 site, which, tiny as it is in size, is an effectual check to the unlimited increase of this in- 

 £ 3g jurious insect. It is a small ichneumon fly, represented in Fig. 35. 



The larger drawing is a magnified view, the smaller is of the natural 

 size. This apparently puny insect is a great friend to the vine 

 grower, especially in many parts of the United States. Mr. Lintner 

 of Albany, N.Y., thinks that nine- tenths of the larvse in his vicinity 

 are destroyed by it, and Mr. Riley of St. Louis, Mo., believes that 

 the proportion there would reach three in four. 



This little friend punctures the skin of the caterpillar and deposits 

 her eggs underneath where they soon hatch into young maggots, which revel on the fatty 

 portions of the body of their victim, until they are full grown. Mr. Lintner says, "it is 

 usually after the last moulting, while to all appearance the larva is uninjured and thriving, 

 that numerous little heads may be seen forcing their way through the skin of its back and 

 sides. Within an hour's time, the entire brood of grubs have emerged. With their ter- 

 minal segment remaining in the opening made by the escape of their bodies, they at once 

 commence building about themselves small firm snow-white cocoons, which standing on 

 end, are usually so abundant as to cover the entire body in a couple of hours. In about 



