THE RED-HUMPED CATERPILLAR. 423 
entirely dusky ; the body is brownish, and there are two 
narrow black bands across the fore part of the thorax. The 
wings expand from one inch and a quarter to one inch and 
a half, or nearly. 
Our fruit-trees seem to be peculiarly subject to the ravages 
of insects, probably because the native trees of the forest, 
which originally yielded the insects an abundance of food, 
have been destroyed to a great extent, and their places 
supplied only partially by orchards, gardens, and nurseries. 
Numerous as are the kinds of caterpillars now found on 
cultivated trees, some are far more abundant than others, 
and therefore more often fall under our observation, and 
come to be better known. Such, for instance, are certain 
gregarious caterpillars that swarm on the apple, cherry, and 
plum trees towards the end of summer, stripping whole 
branches of their leaves, and not unfrequently despoiling 
our rose-bushes and thorn hedges also. These caterpillars 
are of two kinds, very different in appearance, but alike in 
habits and destructive propensities. The first of these may 
be called the red-humped (Fig. 210), 
a name that will probably bring these 
insects to the remembrance of those 
persons who have ever observed 
them. Different broods make their appearance at various 
times during August and September. The eggs from which 
they proceed are laid, in the course of the month of July, 
in clusters on the under side of a leaf, generally near the 
end of a branch. When first hatched they eat only the 
substance of the under side of the leaf, leaving the skin 
of the upper side and all the veins untouched ; but as they 
grow larger and stronger, they devour whole leaves from 
the point to the stalk, and go from leaf to leaf down the 
twigs and branches. The young caterpillars are lighter- 
colored than the old ones, which are yellowish brown, paler 
on the sides, and longitudinally striped with slender black 
lines ; the head is red ; on the top of the fourth ring there 
5t 
Fig. 210. 
