6 



Life History. 



The gypsy moth, like all insects of its class, exists under four 



different forms during the year. 



The Eyg. - - The eggs of the gypsy moth are laid in July and 



August in a yellowish, hair-covered mass averaging about one and 



one-half inches long and about three- 

 fourths of an inch wide. To the eye the 

 egg mass resembles a small, tightly stuffed, 

 oval, buff-colored cushion. During win- 

 ter the color often fades to a dingy white. 

 In this mass, the eggs, to the average 

 number of about five hundred, are closely 

 packed with yellowish hair from the body 

 of the female moth. An individual egg 

 is scarcely as large as a pinhead, salmon- 

 colored when first laid, but turning dark 

 in the course of a few weeks. 



The Caterpillar or Larva. --The eggs 

 hatch about May 1, and each mass or 

 "cluster" yields a swarm of small cater- 

 pillars, the bulk of which become fully 

 grown by midsummer. Gypsy moth cater- 



pillars of any age are decidedly hairy. The head 



of the caterpillar is large in proportion to its 



body, this being especially noticeable when it is 

 young. 



The mature caterpillar has a dusky or sooty- 

 colored body. Along the back, counting from 

 the head, which is marked with yellow, is a 

 double row of blue spots followed by a double 

 row of red spots. This double row of spots 

 almost invariably may be seen very distinctly on 

 the back of a gypsy moth caterpillar which has 

 attained a length of one inch and a half or more. 

 There are five pairs of blue spots and six pairs 

 of red spots. No other New England larva has 

 this double row of blue and red spots along its 

 back. Until the gypsy moth caterpillar grows 

 to the length of an inch and a half, however, it 

 does not always show very distinctly these pairs 

 of spots. The mature gypsy moth caterpillar not infrequently 

 attains a length of three inches. 



FIG. 1. Eg}? cluster of 

 gypsy moth. 



moth. 



