It is an old superstition that the severity of the coming winter can be predicted by the width of the brown bands or stripes around the wooly-bear caterpillar in the autumn. If the brown bands are wide, says the superstition, the winter will be mild, but if the brown bands are narrow, a rough winter is foretold. Studies at the American Museum of Natural History in New York failed to show any connection between the weather and the caterpillar’s stripes.