BIG Black Caterpillar

[Pierre A Plauzoles]

In a previous article, dyanega at mono.icb.ufmg.br (Doug Yanega) says:

>>Woolly bear. Going to be a long, hard winter.
>>Folk lore says that the amount and placement of black and brown predicts
>>the amount of cold weather. All-black wooly bears are reported common
>>this year in Tennessee, too.
>>
>>Anne Kilmer
>>South Florida
>
>Ah, but those are two different species! The "forecasting" woollybear is
>Isia isabella, a different genus entirely from the all-black Hypercompe.
>They ALWAYS predict a long, hard winter, so don't trust 'em. ;-)

Ok, but at three inches, wouldn't that be a little bit big for a woolly 
bear?  I have never seen them over 1.8 inches.  Is my experience in that 
regard an aberration or just a sign of my isolation from experience with 
certain species?
-- 
Pierre Plauzoles   ae779 at lafn.org
Canoga Park, California