A Query in Natural History.
Some time ago, under the above heading, a caterpillar was described which is commonly called saddle-back or slug caterpillar. Naturalists know it by the euphonious title of Sibine stimulea, which tells us that the tufts of bristles have nettlelike powers of irritation. The name slug caterpillar is given it because, the abdominal legs being absent, it moves with a smooth, gliding, snail-like motion. It feeds on many plants and trees, such as corn, rose, cherry, pear, and apple. After spending some weeks feeding on the leaves, it spins a brown cocoon, nearly spherical, surrounded by a loose silken web, and about July 1 a small moth emerges.
It resembles those small moths commonly designated as "millers." The wings, which spread about one and one-half inches, are of a beautiful rich brown color, with a dark streak on the fore wings, near which are three whitish spots. Although nature has furnished the caterpillar with a protective armor of poisonous bristles, yet it does not seem to me to merit the epithet "hideous creature."
C. W. B.
East Orange, N. J.