THE VIRGINIA ERMINE-MOTH. 
349 
The lamest of the American Arctians is the Scribonia. or 
great white leopard-moth, which varies in expansion from 
two and a half to three and a half inches, the females being 
invariably much larger than the males. It is of a white color; 
the fore wings and thorax are ornamented with many small 
oval black rings, the hind wings are more or less spotted 
with black ; and the abdomen is yellow, with rows of large 
blue-black spots on the back and sides. 
The catei’j^illar, as represented by Mr. Abbot,* is the 
counterpart of that of the Hebe of Europe, being chestnut- 
brown with transverse red bands between the rings, and is 
clothed with clusters of dark brown hairs. It is said to 
eat the leaves of the wild sunflower and of A'arious other 
plants. It has been confldently reported to me that the 
great leopard-moth has been seen in Brookline; but it must 
be A*erv rare here, for I have never heard of its beino; taken 
in any part of XeAV England. Specimens of this fine insect 
would be a very acceptable addition to any collection of such 
objects. 
Of all the haiiy caterpillars frequenting our gardens, there 
are none so common and troublesome as that Avhich I have 
called the yellow- 
bear (Fig. IGT). 
Like most of its 
genus, it is a A'ery 
general feeder, de- 
A’ourino; almost all 
o 
kinds of herbaceous plants with equal relish, from the broad¬ 
leaved plantain at the door-side, the peas, beans, and even 
the flowers of the garden, and the corn and coarse grasses 
of the fields, to the leaves of the vine, the currant, and the 
gooseberry, Avhich it does not refuse Avhen pressed by hunger. 
This kind of caterpillar A’aries A^eiw much in its colors ; it is 
perhaps most often of a pale yelloAV or straw color, Avith a 
black line along each side of the body, and a transA^erse line 
* Insects of Georgia, p. 137, pi. 69. 
