FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



hatch in spring, just as the leaves are expanding, pupate 

 underground about a month later, and the pale yellow, 

 marked with brown, moths emerge several weeks later, say, 

 in early July. The eggs are laid on the twigs of their food 

 plant, usually near a crotch, but they do not hatch until 

 the next spring. The eggs are ovoid, deeply pitted, and 

 blue-green in color. 



This is the Spring Canker-worm (Plate 



Paleacrita LVIII). According to Slingerland and 



vernata 



Crosby, the term " cancer- worme " origi- 

 nated in England in 1 530 and was used for several different 

 insects in the first authorized English version of the Bible 

 in 1611. In 1661 John Hull said "the canker-worm hath 

 for four years devoured most of the apples in Boston, that 

 the trees look in June as if it was the 9th month." For 

 a long time pometaria (see p. 194) was not distinguished 

 from vernata. The larvae of vernata may be ash-gray, 

 green, yellow, or even dull black; they have much the same 

 habits as those of pometaria but the adults do not emerge 

 from the underground pupae until sometime between 

 February and April, inclusive. The male's wings are 

 silky gray. The female has no wings. She lays four 

 hundred or more eggs in irregular clusters in crevices of the 

 bark of some deciduous tree, fruit trees being favorites. 

 These eggs are ovoid, slightly ridged, and of an iridescent 

 purple color. My chief objection to this species is that 

 it was the excuse for the introduction of the English spar- 

 row. Tree bands would have been more effective and 

 not such a nuisance. 



The Notched- wing Geometer (Plate 

 LVIII) is the largest common Geometrid 

 of the Northeast. The wings are reddish 

 yellow, shaded and spotted with brown. It flies from 

 August to November. The larva, which gets to be more 

 than two inches long, feeds on maple, chestnut, birch, and 

 other leaves. It spins a dense, spindle-shaped cocoon 

 within a cluster of leaves. 



196 



