MAINE AGRICUI,TURAL EXPERIMKNT STATION. I9IO. 343 



of the thorax nearest the head a rich chestnut brown. Several 

 dark brown Hnes cross the fore wings transversely. The hind 

 wings are pale buff. The female moth deposits about 100 eggs 

 in a cluster on a leaf. 



The caterpillars which hatch from these eggs, attain their 

 full growth in 5 or 6 weeks. They are then about two inches 

 long. The head is black and the segment just back of the 

 head is orange colored, a character which gives rise to the 

 popular name "yellow-neck." The body is striped longitudi- 

 nally with alternate yellow and black lines. Soft white hairs 

 occur over the whole body but are too thin to be especially 

 noticeable (fig. 9). Like the red-humped caterpillar, these 

 caterpillars are clustered together both while feeding and when 

 at rest. The caterpillars when at rest assume a characteristic 

 and peculiar position on the branch with both extremities of 

 the body raised. When alarmed they jerk their heads and tails 

 in an irritated manner. 



Fig. 9. (After Holland). 



The full grown caterpillars bury themselves in the earth a 

 few inches below the surface, where they transform into brown 

 pupge, unprotected by any cocoon. They remain in the earth 

 all winter and emerge about the middle of the next summer, 

 when they are transformed to the moth, or mature insect. 



REMEDIES. 



As in the case of the red-humped caterpillar, gathering the 

 caterpillars by hand is the simplest remedy and perhaps the 

 only one which it is necessary to recommend. The caterpillars 

 are gregarious and the whole brood is easily removed from the 

 tree and destroyed. Arsenical sprays (Formula 6) will kill 

 them, and may sometimes be a convenient means of combating 

 them. 



