SOME CURIOUS FELLOWS TO MEET 
35 
tention; for birds are careless and do not notice that he is not a part of 
the branch on which he is resting. 
Did yon ever see a white moth with humped neck and a pair of 
long, hornlike feelers? This moth is also conspicuous because of her 
very long, square-ended wings. Well, she has little children that are 
called yellow-bear caterpillars, and they certainly do look like just what 
we call them! When disturbed, they drop to the ground and curl up in 
a little ball, just as a bear cub does when frightened. When fully 
grown they are about an inch and a half in length and are very evenly 
colored. I think that they make the most uneven and irregular cocoons 
of any caterpillars I have ever seen. 
The smallest of the giant silkworm family is known as the bull's- 
eye or Io moth. Its caterpillar is one of the most common over the 
greater portion of this country. It is one of the most interesting of 
all “crawlers,” because of the many curious little things that it does. Un¬ 
like most caterpillars, these fellows march from place to place in a 
solemn procession, and at a little distance a string of them looks just 
like some extremely long, hairy worm creeping on the bark or fence- 
rail. Another curious thing they do is to first lunch from their egg- 
cases soon after they are born. Then they attack the leaves near by. 
When at rest, these caterpillars, curl up, tuck their heads and tails 
under their bodies, and present only their backs covered with hairy 
spines for the world at large to see. When two lines of Io caterpillars 
meet, the leaders lock heads, rub each other for a few seconds, until 
one gets a seeming advantage, and then the line whose leader won at 
i ‘rubbing noses" passes straight ahead, while the other line gracefully 
moves to one side. A prick from the spines of an Io caterpillar is 
slightly poisonous and very irritating indeed. This is the defense the 
creature has, and a very good one it is, for no attacker cares for a 
second injection of spine-poison. 
Have you ever seen the young pugilist of caterpillardom? When 
he is aroused he sits right up and “takes notice," assuming a pugilistic 
attitude that must seem terrifying to the small creatures that meet him. 
This is the caterpillar of the polyphemus-moth, and he does this queer 
stunt by drawing back his brown head so far that the segments of the 
body just back of the head, form a large hood that makes the cater¬ 
pillar look as if he had an exceptionally large head and mouth ready 
for anything that might come his way. 
