BOMBYCIIXE. 



301 



spicuous webs placed in neglected apple trees and on the wild 

 cherry. The eggs are laid on the twigs, in bunches of from 

 300 to 400, placed side by side and covered with a tough 

 gummy matter ; they are sometimes infested by chalcid para- 

 sites. 



The larvte of C. Americana Harris hatch out just as the 

 leaves are unfolding and soon form a web, under which the col- 

 ony lives. They may be destroyed by previously searching 

 for the bunches of eggs 011 the twigs before the tree is leaved 



o tu 



out, and the caterpillars may be killed with a brush or mop 

 dipped into strong soap-suds, or a weak solution of petroleum. 



The larvse become full grown about the middle of June, then 

 spin their dense white cocoons, under the bark of trees, etc., 

 and the moths appear about the 

 first of July. The larva of C. 

 Americana is about two inches 

 long, hairy, with a dorsal white 

 stripe, with numerous fine crin- 

 kled black lines on a yellow 

 ground, united below into a 

 common black band, with a blue 

 spot on the side of each ring. 

 The moth (Fig. 232, and larva) 

 is reddish brown, with two oblique, dirty white lines on the 

 fore wings. It expands from an inch and a quarter to an inch 

 and a half. The Forest Tent caterpillar, C. disstria IKibner 

 (C. sylvatica Harris) differs in the apex of the fore wings 

 being much longer, with two transverse rust brown, nearly 

 straight, parallel lines. It is sometimes destructive to the 

 apple and oak trees. 



The Hepiali are a group of boring moths, the larvae boring 

 in the stems of plants or in trees. The wings are narrow, both 

 pairs being very equal in size, and show a tendency to recur to 

 the net-veined style of venation of the Neuroptera. Xylentcs is 

 a large moth, with a stout vein passing through the middle of 

 the discal space, and the short antennae have two rows of short 

 teeth on the under side. X. robinice Peck is gray, with irregu- 

 lar black lines and dots on the wings, and a black line on the 

 inside of the shoulder tippets. The hind wings of the male 



Fig. 232. 



