222 



AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



room they will soon revive and crawl around as if nothing had 

 happened to stop the action of their vital functions. The ants 

 belong to the highest order of insect life, and if a temperature 

 of — 40° doesn't deprive them of the vital spark it is safe to 

 conclude that any of the lower orders could stand a like condi- 

 tion. 



Many people thought that the weather conditions of last win- 

 ter were such as to destroy the brown-tail larvae in the State. 

 From a careful examination made in the spring I found that of 



Fig. 8. 



ten nests examined from Bar Harbor containing 3,322 cater- 

 pillars only 13 per cent were dead. In ten nests from George- 

 town containing 3,157 caterpillars about ii per cent were dead; 

 while from Oxford and Augusta quite a number of nests 

 gave no live caterpillars. Of course last winter was a very 

 exceptional one. Almost invariably the small colonies showed 

 a much greater per cent of dead larvae than the large ones. 



It is just the same in wintering bees. Very often a small 

 colony will not winter well, while a strong one will come through 

 all right. 



