328 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



In New York they were in evidence on the 15th, on tlie i6th in 

 Paterson, and in Newark on the 17th. At all these places they were 

 present in about the same abundance. 



At an electric light two doors away from my house they covered a 

 branch of a tree extending out over the street so thickly that, v^hen stand- 

 ing at my door, the branch had the appearance it would have after a 

 heavy fall of wet. clinging snow. On the front of the two houses nearest 

 to this light, from the top of the first-floor windows to the roof — both 

 three-story houses — you could not have placed your hand on the boards 

 without disturbing four or five moths. There is an eight-foot alley between 

 these houses, and the sides adjoining this alley were covered in the same 

 manner. 



When going along the streets and passing a light, one's clothing 

 became coated as effectually ?s with real particles of snow. They would 

 fly in one's face, in one's eyes, and into one's mouth if it were not kept 

 tightly shut. 



Early the following morning (the i8th), under the lamps the wings 

 were on the ground as thick as ajiple blossoms after a storm, showing that 

 the sparrows had not forgotten why they were brought over to this country 

 some forty years ago. In New York they extended from Herald Square 

 to Harlem. At Paterson and Newark they extended to all parts of the 

 cities. 



Although this moth was so abundant, it is as harmless as it is 

 beautiful. 



E. siibsignarws feeds on only five or six varieties of trees, and except 

 under the most unusual conditions could it do much harm. We may 

 consider ourselves fortunate that the invasion was not of the Brown-tail 

 or Gypsy moths. It would be a hard matter to say where this army of 

 invaders came from, but no doubt conditions somewhere were favourable 

 to their breeding to such an enormous extent. 



In July, 1897 or 1898, I saw a similar phenomenon at Boonton, N. J., 

 but in this case the invaders were Nepytia semiclusaria. 



On the 4th of July I was in a large woods, and suddenly came to a 

 tree completely covered from base to the lower limbs with se/tiicitisaria, 

 and upon going a little further I saw other trees covered as thickly. As 

 in this latest instance the invasion was for only one day, the next day 

 only a dozen or so could be found. Whence came they ? Whither do 

 they go? It is easy to answer the last, but who can explain the first? 



