April 4, 1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUhE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
295 
with silk and chips, for its security in the winter. Probably a similar 
plan is followed by the leopard caterpillar, a resident in various trees. 
The much smaller caterpillars of several clearwing moths, which pass 
their life in stems, branches, or twigs, take up a winter position where 
they will be least exposed to the cold ; but they appear to feed all that 
season—at least, such is the habit of the species infesting the Currant, 
Pear, and Apple. I expect the winter has seen the death of many of 
those insects which secrete themselves under loose bark, birds having 
been very diligent in their researches on tree trunks, after the supply of 
spring it feeds upon various plants, such as Lettuces and Strawberries r 
before hybernation it is often found infesting Hollyhocks, amongst other 
garden species. The habit of this caterpillar is to hide near the ground 
during the cold season, and a per-centage, I expect, will have been killed 
by the snow or frost, though their coats are some nrotection. “ 
Unshielded, however, is the caterpillar of the Currant moth (Abraxas 
grossulariata), some individuals of which conceal themselves amongst 
stones or refuse in the winter, while others brave it by simply fixing them¬ 
selves firmly upon a twig of their favourite bush. Hardy fellows they> 
berries began to fall short. It would be pleasant to think the frost was 
likely to make a reduction in the number of the aphis hosts of the spring, 
but I expect it will not; the eggs would not be affected, nor probably 
the insects, “queen aphides,” or other adults which hybernate under the 
earth or in various nooks, their bodies seem to be well stored with oil. 
We will just notice a few species of garden and orchard insects, 
where the hybernating caterpillars or larvm of last winter may not have 
escaped entirely from its effects. A familiar insect at once occurs to us 
in the caterpillar of the tiger moth (Arctia caja), often called the “ woolly 
bear,” though not clothed in wool, but black-and-grey silk. During the 
as I know from observation, but February, 1895, may have been a bit 
too sharp for them, though not markedly injurious to our Currants and 
Gooseberries. Then there is the caterpillar of the^ angle shades 
(Phlogophora meticulosa), one of the very few caterpillars that 
through the winter, quite exposed to the weather, upon any garden 
plants that may be accessible, such as young Chrjsantnemums, “im- 
roses, and early Peas, a velvety leech-like fellow, brown or greenish, 
with white lines and dots ; some of these I saw about in December, but 
since then they have disappeared. _ • v. .. v,- i. 
Another of the hybernators common in gardens is t^iSt to which 
