New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 373 



the back its entire length, and commencing upon the second or the base 

 of the first segment back of the head. In this stripe are numerous minute 

 black dots. On each side of it are a number of short, crinkled, irregular 

 longitudinal lines, of a yellow color, which become paler down upon the 

 sides. Above the lowermost series of these lines is a row of transverse 

 oval pale blue spots, one upon the middle of each segment. On the an- 

 terior side of each of these spots is a broader deep velvety black spot, 

 as it appears to the naked eye, forward of which is a rather faint pale 

 blue oblong spot or short stripe, reaching to the anterior margin of the 

 segment. Lower down, the sides are mottled with the same tint of pale 

 blue coloring, interspersed with short, crinkled pale yellow or whitish 

 lines. The under sides of the body and legs are black, the soles of the 

 prolegs white. The neck or anterior edge of the segment next to the 

 head is also white, with two small, somewhat square, yellow spots above. 



The tent. — The tent or nest (Plate XXXII) is built in any 

 convenient angle of the limbs. It is composed of successive sheets 

 of silk stretched across from limb to limb and is enlarged from 

 time to time to suit the needs of the growing occupants. Access 

 is had to the interior by irregular openings in the silk. The silk 

 is coarse and sufficiently strong to resist even severe wind and rain 

 storms. As previously stated only the caterpillars from a single 

 egg-cluster usually build and occupy the same nest. There are 

 undoubtedly exceptions to this rule. The writer observed a case 

 last season where two colonies of caterpillars, the egg-clusters from , 

 which they hatched being near together on the same twig, built 

 and occupied one nest together. 



Pupation. — Toward the latter part of May the caterpillars are 

 ready to pupate. At this time they may be found crawling down 

 the trunks of the trees or wandering about on the ground in 

 search of places to spin their cocoons. The cocoons average 

 about an inch in length and are oval in shape. They are com- 

 posed of strands of course white silk woven loosely and intermixed 

 with a saffron yellow powder. Some of the hair from the cater- . 

 pillar's body may sometimes be found interwoven with the silk. 

 Some of the cocoons are thin and flimsy, while others are more 

 closely woven. 



The cocoons are placed in any convenient location, sometimes 

 singly or together in numbers. They may be found upon the 



