Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0411.jpg



CATANIA

349

CATERPILLAR

pods, often a foot in length, which hang until the next spring. In its natural locality this tree seldom exceeds 40 feet in height. The wood is light in color and coarsegrained, and is used in exterior finish, for fence p_osts and railroad ties. It is known by various names, as Indian bean, candle-tree and bean-tree. Catalpas belong to the Begonia family.

Catania (kd-tafne-d}, a city and seaport of Sicily, near the foot of Mt. Etna. The fertile and well-cultivated plain of Catania is styled the granary of Sicily, and has given ^ the city the title of Beautiful Catania. By eruptions of the great volcano and by earthquakes, the city has been several times almost entirely destroyed, but put of its ruins it has always risen with increased beauty. It now is the finest city of Sicily, being built throughout on a beautiful and uniform plan. Among the chief buildings are the Benedictine convent of San Nicola, the cathedral, founded in 1091, and the university, founded in 1434, which has a faculty of 48 professors and i,048,students. There are manufactures of silk and linen goods and of articles in amber, lava, wood, etc. There have been some remains of ancient times found here, including those of a theater, a temple of Ceres, Roman baths and an aqueduct. Catania was founded by the Greeks in the 8th century B. C., and became a flourishing city. It was desolated by Dionysius I, but again rose under the Roman sway. It was destroyed by earthquake in 1909. Population, 211,699.

Catapult (kiWa-ptilt), an ancient military engine for throwing stones, arrows, javelins and other missiles. It was invented in Syracuse in the reign of Dionysius the Elder. It consisted of a wood framework, a part ^ of which was elastic and furnished with tightly drawn cords of hair or gut. It acted on the principle of a bow. Catapults were of various sizes. The largest would throw a beam six feet long and weighing 60 pounds to a distance of 400 paces.

Cataract. See WATERFALL.

Catawbas (ka-ta'baz), a tribe of Indians in North and South Carolina, now reduced to a mere handful. When these states were settled, they were a powerful tribe with 1,500 warriors. They occupied six towns on Catawba River. They were a warlike people, early engaged in strife with the Chero-kees and later with the Shawnees and Iroquois, but were freindly to the settlers and served with them in the Revolution. They retired on a reservation, and have since decreased greatly. There are now about 200 half-breeds in the reservation bearing the name. Pontiac is said by some to have been by birth a Catawba. The last full-blooded Catawba, Peter Harris, was a Revolutionary soldier.

Cat'bird, a very common, well-known bird in the United States, related to the southern mocking-bird and other thrushes, The ordinary song of the male during the mating season is musical and agreeable, but both male and female utter on occasion a disagreeable cry,

like the mewing of a cat, and from this their name is derived. The bird is slaty-gray with black cap and tail. It nests in thickets and shrubbery near settlements, seldom more than four or five feet from the ground. The nest is a bulky affair of twigs, leaves, grasses and fine roots. The four or five eggs are of a bluish-green color. The bird arrives in New England in May, and departs for the south the middle of October.

Caterpillar, the immature stage of butterflies and moths, intermediate between the egg and the perfect insect. What the tadpole is to the frog, the caterpillar is to the butterfly or moth. They are both called larval stages, and when the extensive change takes place, transforming them into adult stages, it is in both cases called a metamorphosis. (The metamorphosis of insects is general and by no means confined to butterflies and moths). The butterfly or moth deposits eggs, which, in place of hatching in the form of the parents, hatch as worm-like caterpillars. But caterpillars, although worm-like in form, are not worms; they are immature stages of insects. They all have three pairs of jointed legs like insects (also additional false-legs or supports), and all breathe by air-tubes like insects. Caterpillars vary greatly in form, size and coloring. There are the common heavy or woolen varieties, and many others that are unprovided with hair but usually with bright colors. The common measuring-worms, the large green tomato-worms, the striped, spotted, and various-colored worms found on milkweed, tobacco, apple-leaves, mulberry and other plants are illustrations.

The rearing of these larvae, in order to watch the changes, is now a common thing; boxes open to the air, but provided with wire screens, are used. Into these are placed the larvae and some of the leaves of the plant on which they are found, and these are renewed from time to time. They will grow in the boxes so tended, and, when they have reached their full growth, will pass into the stage of a pupa or chrysalis. The latter vary also greatly in form and appearance. Some kinds spin cocoons around themselves, others draw the skin over the back and form a sort of case into whic^ they retire.

CATBIRD