maine) agricultural experiment station. i91o. 349 



8. Tussock Moths. 



I. WHITE-MARKED TUSSOCK (Hemerocanipa leucostigma). 



II. ANTIQUE TUSSOCK (Notoloplius autiqua) . 



The conspicuous white egg masses of these moths are de- 

 posited late in the summer or in the fall upon the cocoons from 

 which the female moths emerge. As the hairy cocoons are 

 commonly attached to the rough bark, or twigs of trees the 

 caterpillars infest, the egg-masses are readily found at any time 

 after the leaves have fallen. The eggs which the white-marked 

 tussock deposits are covered with a white frothy substance 

 which becomes brittle upon exposure to the air. The antique 

 tussock does not protect its eggs in this manner but leaves them 

 uncoVered upon the cocoon (fig. 39). 



^;;rf'^«^^f^JJf;^;^t'}^''-.^^-fr^ 



Fig. 15. (After Riley). 



The caterpillars which emerge from these eggs in the spring 

 are most grotesque in appearance. The caterpillar of the white- 

 marked tussock moth when full grown has a shiny coral red 

 head beyond which extend two stiff pencils of black hairs di- 

 rected forward like horns. A single pencil of similar con- 

 struction supplies the other end of the body with a tail. Upon 

 the middle of the back, starting a little behind the head, is a 

 row of four regular tufts of soft whitish hairs which resemble 

 small paint brushes neatly trimmed off at the tip. In a line 

 with these but nearer the tail occur two little bright red tuber- 

 cles (fig. 15). The full grown antique tussock caterpillar re- 

 sembles closely the species just described. Its head, however, 

 is jet black and it has an additional pair of black pencils, simi- 

 lar to though shorter than the horns, projecting from the sides 

 of the body, which is lacking in the caterpillar of the white- 

 marked tussock. 



After feeding for four or five weeks the caterpillar becomes 

 full grown and spins a rough cocoon of silk with which it mixes 

 the hairs that have decorated its body. These cocoons are usu- 



