19 [ 279 ] 
of seven feet by actual measurement. If a nest be torn open, the 
inmates in a short time repair the breach. 
I have examined the nests upon different kinds of trees to see whether the differ - 
ence of food produced any variation in the color of the caterpillars, but could dis¬ 
cover none. This is the more remarkable as they are not a particularly uniform spe¬ 
cies, the insects in the same nest varying from a pale buff or brownish yellow to 
a dull green, but having in both cases somewhat of a grayish tint, produced by a dense 
sprinkling over the whole body of minute black points and lines. This intcimL.tuiG 
of black is the densest on the upper side, so as to constitute a broad blackish dorsal 
stripe; but many individuals are scarcely darker on the back than on the sides. 
Drs. Harris and Fitch both describe the larva of Hyphantria textor , as having a black 
head. I have seen a few black-headed individuals in nests both on the apple and 
the hickory, but nearly all of them have heads of a clear amber-brown coloi. The 
upper lip and the basal joint of the small antennae are pure white, constituting quite 
characteristic marks, irrespective of all other variations. There are five inconspic¬ 
uous whitish lines extending the length of the body, one on the middle of the back 
and two on each side. The upper part of the neck is black or dark brown, divided 
through the middle by the white dorsal line. There are twelve pale orange or amber 
colored tubercles on each segment, the two middle dorsal and the lowest lateral ones 
being smaller than the others. The two larger dorsal tubercles are sometimes black, 
both in the darker and lighter colored individuals. Each tubercle emits a tuft of long 
hairs which are usually rusty-white, but in some specimens bright-ferruginous. 
Many kinds of caterpillars conceal themselves, or at least remain 
stationary through the day and feed only in the evening or night. 
In this way, no doubt, they escape to some extent the notice of 
insectivorous birds, which are almost all diurnal in their habits. 
The caterpillars of which we are now treating are strictly noctur¬ 
nal feeders. They remain in the oldest and densest part of their 
nests through the day, and notwithstanding their long fast, they 
do not venture out till it is quite dark. In order to witness them 
at their work I have been under the necessity of examining them 
by candle light. 
The Fall Web-worms, as these caterpillars are usually called, 
have not heretofore been regarded as holding more than a third 
rate rank in the catalogue of noxious insects. Yet, judging from 
mv observations the past season, I should suppose them to be upon 
the increase. I saw the apple trees much disfigured by them 
through the middle portions of the State, and also in my own 
neighborhood ; and a correspondent of the American Entomologist, 
writing from Massachusetts, remarks that they have been unusu¬ 
ally abundaut in that part of the country. They appear so late in 
the season, not making much show till alter the first of August, 
