COMMUNICATIONS 



THE FALL WEB^WORM 



Editor Conservation : 



We have heard much concerning- 

 the g-ipsy moth and brown-tail 

 moth of the East, but this pest, 

 the "fall web-worm," shown in the ac- 

 companying photograph, is so familiar 

 to our gaze that we see no more harm 

 in them than in the English sparrow. 

 In many parts of New York State, the 



the country. The average tree will die 

 after five consecutive years of defolia- 

 tion. Alarmed at their increase, and at 

 the lack of attention to their ravages, 

 the writer has made the pest a special 

 study during this last season. 



They follow in the wake of the Eng- 

 lish sparrow, and are most numerous 

 where there are the least trees. On 



NESTS OF THE FALL.WEB.WORM 



upper portion of Pennsylvania, and all 

 the upper half of Ohio the trees are 

 covered with them. They are seen on 

 the rose bushes and shrubs of almost 

 every lawn and dooryard. The ceme- 

 teries have them, and the woodlands 

 are becoming devastated by them. In 

 five years they have increased a thou- 

 sand to one ; increasing by geometrical 

 progression — in fifteen years — there 

 cannot be a living tree in the regions 

 named nor in many other portions of 

 620 



the way to Alabama, in August, the 

 writer found that they disappeared just 

 above Dayton, Ohio, and there were 

 but few through Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee ; but the writer met a gentleman 

 in Huntsville, Ala., who said they were 

 quite numerous down the eastern coast 

 line, clear to Florida. 



The reason why people are not more 

 concerned over the ravages of this 

 caterpillar is presumably, that it is con- 

 sidered a local pest ; but it will soon be 



