Any one can identify this caterpillar easily, as it is most
peculiar. There is a purplish pink cast on the head and mouth of
the full-grown caterpillar, and purplish red around the props. The
body is a very light blue-green, faintly tinged with white, and
yellow in places. On the sides are white obliques, or white,
shaded with pink, and at the base of these, a small oval marking.
There is a small short horn on the head. But the distinguishing
mark is a mass of little white granules, scattered all over the
caterpillar. It is so peppered with these, that failure to
identify it is impossible.
These caterpillars pupate in the ground. I knew that, but this
was before I had learned that the caterpillar worked out a hole in
the ground, and the pupa case only touched the earth upon which it
lay. So when my Modesta caterpillar ceased crawling, lay quietly,
turned dark, shrank one half in length, and finally
burst the dead skin, and emerged in a shining dark brown pupa case
two inches long, I got in my work.
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