From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
LB2017.19.60964
In a lab at the Trailside Museum, a woolly bear caterpillar, collected on Bear Mountain by Dr. C. H. Curran, investigates the ruler is it being measured against. This photo is very similar to the one published in the November 6, 1950 issue of LIFE Magazine on page 109. Dr. C. H. Curran of the American Museum of Natural History in New York set out to test the legend that woolly bear caterpillars can predict the severity of the coming winter with the size of their brown band. Woolly bears are the fuzzy black and brown larval stage of the Isabella tiger moth. Now referred to as Pyrrharctia isabella, in 1950 the scientific name used was Isia isabella. Dr. Curran collected samples to measure from Bear Mountain State Park in New York. Three of Kosti Ruohomaa's photos of Dr. Curran working with woolly bears were published in the November 6, 1950 issue of LIFE Magazine on pages 109-110. According to the LIFE magazine article, in 1948 and 1949, the band length did correlate to the severity of the winter that followed. However, today the consensus is that Woolly Bear bands do not predict the severity of the winter. Canadian entomologist C. Howard Curran (1894-1972) specialized in flies and studied insect control and DDT.
