84 



Ik. Gl IDE Ti » NATURE 





WW 



3$ 



»^.^,iVv>". 



"i&bi- 





SfljjS 



Sf» 



The Gypsy Moth in Connecticut. 



BY W. H. BRITTON, STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, 

 NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



In March [906, it became known to 

 us that the Gypsy Moth, Porthetria dis- 

 par Linn, was present in Connecticut 



FIG. 1— EGG-MASSES OF THE GYPSY MOTH. 



( Natural size.) 



at Stonington. Knowing the devasta- 

 tion caused to forest, fruit and shade 

 trees in Massachusetts by this insect, 

 we lost no time in starting a vigorous 

 crusade against it. The region was 

 thoroughly scouted and the infested 

 area found to be less than one square 

 mile. 



The egg-masses are laid on trees, 

 fences, buildings or rubbish and aver- 

 age about 500 eggs each. These hatch 

 about the first of May, and the young 

 caterpillars feed upon leaves of trees, 

 being especially fond of aople, quince, 

 rose hickory, maole and will eat almost 



any kind of foliage, the ash perhaps be- 

 ing most nearly exempt of any of the 

 trees. Caterpillars are about two and 

 one-half inches long when full grown 

 and are of a grayish brown color, with 

 a somewhat poorly defined light stripe 

 running longitudinally along the back. 

 Each side of this dorsal line there is a 

 row of tubercles bearing long brown 

 hairs. The first five pairs of tubercles 

 beginning next the head are blue and 

 the remaining six pairs red, both colors 

 varying in depth and brilliancy. Hairs 

 are also borne from the side of each 

 body segment giving the caterpillar a 

 distinct hairy appearance. 



About the first of July the caterpil- 

 lars become fully grown and in some 

 protected place such as a cavity or 

 crotch, or under a fence rail, they spin 

 a few threads and enter the chrysalis 

 stage. Two weeks later the adult 

 moths emerge. The female with a 

 wing-spread of two and one-quarter 

 inches is cream-colored with narrow 

 brown zigzag markings across the 

 wings, ddie male is about two-thirds 

 the size of a female, and is dark brown 

 though varying considerable in color. 

 The male dies about even in the day- 

 time, but the female though provided 

 with wings which appear to be perfect, 

 cannot fly at all. She rests with folded 

 wings on the tree by her egg-cluster 

 and if disturbed will fall to the ground 

 with feeble flutters. She is not able to 

 move horizontally or to lift herself in 

 flight. Both sexes are shown in Fig. 



The egg-clusters are destroyed in 

 situ by soaking them with creosote oil. 

 The caterpillars after becoming half 

 grown feed at night and hide during 

 the day and can be lured under bands 

 of burlap. Men examine the bands 



