* 



REPORT 01^ state: e;ntomologist. 189 



INJURY done; to ve;getation. 



The food plants of this ahiiost universal feeder include prac- 

 tically the whole flora of the country. That is, hardly a plant, 

 tree or shrub, is immune from its attacks. Like the brown-tail 

 it seems to prefer the fruit trees, as the apple, pear and plum, but 

 from these it readily passes to the shade and forest trees, taking- 

 in its course not only all of the deciduous trees but the ever- 

 greens as well, even to the cedar. If it should secure a hold in* 

 northern Maine who could estimate the loss to our State in dol- 

 lars and cents ! 



METHODS OF CONTROL. 



The first method is to destroy the ^^'g clusters. This is done 

 by saturating- them with a creosote mixture. If one attempts 

 to remove the eggs he is liable to scatter some on the ground. 

 The caterpillars hatching from these might go unobserved 

 through the season while those from a whole tgg cluster would 

 be numerous enough to attract attention, and could then be 

 destroyed by spraying. The scattering ones might give a num- 

 ber of moths to deposit t%g clusters for another season. 



The second method is to capture the caterpillars by tying 

 strips of burlap around the trees with a portion folded down 

 over. As the caterpillars are night feeders, they would crawl 

 under this loose fold and remain in hiding during the day. 

 These bands should be visited at least once a day and the larvae 

 killed. Of course all do not seek these places of hiding, but 

 many do, and in sections where there are but few ^gg clusters 

 the most of them would be captured during the season before 

 the caterpillars reach maturity. xA.ll cavities or holes in tree 

 trunks should be closed by filling them with Portland cement or 

 by covering them with pieces of zinc. All underbrush along 

 the road should be cleaned up and burned, as it oflfers good hid- 

 ing places for the caterpillars or for the moths while laying their 

 eggs. 



I would recommend that each town employ a reliable man to 

 clean up the sides of the highways, removing all brush, wild 

 cherry (which harbor black knot), scrub apple trees, etc. This 

 would not only destroy the breeding places of many of our nox- 

 ious insects but would be removing unsightly objects and add 

 to the appearance of the roadside as well. 



