Isabella Tiger-moth

Isia isabella

This common insect is found everywhere in the United States. The caterpillar is the familiar "woolly bear," which may be often seen by the roadside rapidly making its way in the fall of the year to a hiding-place in which to hibernate, or, in the spring, to some spot where it may find food. It is reddish brown in color, black at either end. When disturbed, it curls up and lies motionless, as if feigning death. To "caterpillar," in the slang phrase of the Middle West, is to silently succumb and yield to the unavoidable. The larva feeds freely upon a great variety of herbaceous plants. It is fond of the grasses, and particularly likes the leaves of the plantain (Plantago). There does not appear to be any marked tendency to variation in this species. Both the moth and the larva are common objects, with which every American schoolboy who has lived in the country is familiar; and unhappy is the boy who has not at some time or other in his life made the country his home. "God made the country, man made the town."