506 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



in Washington Parl<, Albany, where it has frequently been so abundant as to 

 literally cover the smooth bark of a considerable proportion of the trunks and 

 limbs of certain young white pines. The presence of large numbers of this insect 

 reduces the vitality of a tree and apparently leads to a sickly condition, which, in a 

 few cases, appears to have eventually resulted in death. It is impossible to say that 

 this plant lor.se is the primary cause of the injury, but our own observations tend 

 to sustain this view. 



Life History. The life liistory has not been worked out in detail. The eggs 

 commence to hatch early in April in favorable seasons, and the young larvae 

 emerge from the ball of wooly matter which protects the eggs and travel activelv 

 over the bark for a time. They are so small as to be nearly invisible to the naked 

 eye, and in the early part of May they are more abundant than at any other time. 

 Traveling soon ceases, and they attach themselves to the tender bark of the young 

 twigs. They increase rapidly in size and assume a dark reddish-brown color 

 approaching black,' and the wooly secretion of the body appears and soon hides them 

 from view. Maturity is probably reached during the last of May, and the wingless 

 females deposit eggs for another brood. Winged females are produced about the 

 first of June. There are several broods during the summer, and the winter appears 

 to be passed in some seasons, at least, by wingless females which commence feeding 

 toward the latter part of March and begin to deposit eggs in early April. These 

 hatch about the 15th and young begin to attach themselves the 26th. The wingless 

 females disappear about May ist, hatching ceases by the 7th, and winged adults 

 appear about the 9th ; b\- the 17th all the young are attached, and by the 23d the 

 winged adults disappear. These latter records are based on observations made by 

 Mr. Stormcnt in Illinois. He further states that this species may have an alternati\'e 

 fo(5d plant which at present is unknown. 



Description. The eggs occur in downy balls as recorded by Prof. Osborn, and 

 vary in number from 5 to 60 or more in each; usually there are only a few. They 

 are yellowish, slightly ovate, about yCj of an inch long, and with a transverse dimen- 

 sion of one-half that. 



The young of the winged form, as described by Prof. Osborn, are oval in shape, 

 flattened, yellowish or light brown. The antcnmie are 3-jointed, the first joint is 

 short and thick, the second slightly longer and not so thick and the third is three 

 times as long as the first, half as thick, and set with a few stiff hairs at the apex. 

 As the young develop, they become darker in color, assuming a deep red or brown, 

 and finally an almost black appearance. The wooly substance develops thickly on 

 the abdominal segments and also on the mcso- and metathorax, hiding the insect 



