REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 223 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



tips of the branches of the trees upon which they have been feeding the previous sum- 

 mer. The eggs arc laid during Jidy, and, on hatching, the caterpillars feed for some 

 time on the upper surface of the leaves. As winter approaches, they crawl to the tip 

 of a branch and bind together a few leaves so as to make a tent. This is securely 

 closed up with silk, and the caterpillars remain dormant all through the winter and 

 until the buds burst the following spring. These winter nests are easily recognized, 

 fiom being almost invariably at the tips of the branches, and from being at this time 

 of the year the only nests which contain colonies of living caterpillars. These latter 

 are black, but covered with rusty hairs, and on the 10th and 11th segments towards the 

 end of the body there are two very conspicuous reddish-yellow cushion-like tubercles, 

 one on eiich segment, which the caterpillars can elevate or depress at pleasure. 



WHAT TO DO NOW. 



The onlj' way in which the Brown-tail Moth passes the winter is in the shape of 

 these half-grown caterpillars, little more than one-quarter of an inch in length, in 

 colonies of between two and three hundred, inside these nests of leaves at the tips of 

 the branches. These are easily seen, and' everybody in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick who is concerned in the successful management of orchards, and every citizen 

 who is interested in the beauty of the town he lives in, should examine and look to 

 the destruction of every nest of leaves found to contain cnterpillars, which he may 

 notice. The destruction of these winter nests is the most effective means of keeping 

 this enemy within bounds. 



A DANGEROUS ENEMY. 



With the exception of the San Jose Scale, there are no two insects which have 

 attracted so much public attention, nor with regard to which so much money has been 

 spent in America by the State and Federal Governments of the United vStates, as the 

 Gypsy Moth and the Brown-tail Moth. Both of these are pests introduced into 

 America from Ei^rope — the Gypsy Moth about 1869, and the Brown-tail Moth some- 

 where about 1S90. Millions of dollars have now been spent on fighting the Gypsy 

 Moth and the Brown-tail Moth in Massachusetts and the adjoining States. Dr. How- 

 ard, when treating of this insect and of an effort which is being m.ade to introduce 

 European parasites, says, in the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1905 : 

 * The Brown-tail Moth has become even more abundant and injurious than the Gypsy 

 Moth, and, owing to the fact that the female flies readily, whereas the female of the 

 Gypsy Moth does not fly at all, the Brown-tail Moth has far exceeded the Gypsy Moth 

 in its spread.' 



PLANTS INJURED. 



These caterpillars injure nearly all of the large and small fruits, and many 

 perennial plants. The pear and apple seem to be favourites; but stone fruits, elraa, 

 maples and the oak are also commonly injured. A list of over 80 different kinds of 

 food plants was published in 1903. Thousands of fruit trees in the vicinity of Boston, 

 Dr. Howard says, have been killed by the Brown-tail Moth. 



THE BROWN-TAIL RASH. 



Not only are the caterpillars of this insect voracious feeders upvon the foliage of 

 many kinds of trees, but they cause much annoyance from their stinging hairs, which 

 cause excessive irritation when they come in contact with the human skin. Each hair 

 is barbed, and at the time the cocoons are spun these hairs are broken off and carried 

 by the wind, when they fall on the neck and other exposed parts of the body, giving 

 rise to the painful rash, Avhich is very serious with some people, even although they 

 may not have actually touched the caterpillars. Dr. Howard's assistants who have been 



