The Handbook of Nature Study # 72: The Isabella Tiger Moth Caterpillar or Woolly Bear

Brown and furry

.

Caterpillar in a hurry;

Take your walk

To the shady leaf or stalk.
Or what not,

Which may be the chosen spot;

May no toad spy you,

May the little birds pass by you;

Hoverin bird of prey pass by you,

Spin and die,

To live again a butterfly.

words by Christina Georgina Rosetti

photos student taken



"When we see the woolly bear hurrying along in the fall, it is hunting for some cozy place in which to pass the winter. It makes its cocoon, usually in early spring, of silk woven with its own hair. In late spring, it comes forth a yellowish moth with black dots on its wings.

Have the children bring in woolly bears as the find them; place them in boxes or breeding jars which have grass or clover growing in them. The children can handle the caterpillars while they are studying them, and then they should be put back into the breeding jars and be set out of doors where they can have natural conditions; thus the entire history may be studied."

-Anna Comstock, The Handbook of Nature Study, p.312