44 TIIK BKOWX-TAIL :M0TII. 



early or late. The earliest record of emergence was by Mr. 

 A. F. Burgess, w ho observed the young caterpillars emerg- 

 ing on ^hirch 18, 1898. By the last of April the larva) are 

 usually well at work, feeding on the unfolding buds of the 

 j)ear and api)le ; while those on the elm and oak do not fare 

 as well, since those buds open later in the season. The 

 larvjc show but little method in feeding on the buds, simply 

 burrowing into and often entirely consuming them. 



So far as has been observed, there arc three molts after 

 emergence from the winter quarters before pupation. In 

 the quiet state, just before the first molt in the spring, the 

 larva is about one-fourth of an inch long, and differs only 

 in size and in having the ground color of the body a little 

 darker than it was before hibernation. They retreat into 

 the winter web, where they remain quiet for twenty-four 

 hours or more before molting. 



The first molt in the spring occurs in about eight days 

 after the larva emerges from the winter web, when it dill'ers 

 from the preceding stage in size, "which is now about two- 

 tilths of an inch in length ; in the ground color of the body 

 now being a dark, smoky ])rown ; and in having nmch 

 longer spines, the longest of which are about three times 

 the diameter of the body. 



The second spring molt occurs about the middle of May, 

 when the larva is about three-fifths of an inch lonii'. This 

 stage is similar to the preceding, except that the ground 

 col(M- and markinijs are more like those of the full-irrown 

 larva, though not nearly so bright. 



The third si)ring molt occurs during the latter part of 

 May, when the caterpillar is from three-fourths of an inch 

 to an inch in length, and takes on the markings and charac- 

 teristics of the mature larva. It now has for the first time 

 the white branched hairs on the up[)er side of the lateral 

 tubercles, on segments f) to ]2 inclusive, and the nettling 

 haiivs (Plate H, Fig. 3^ on the subdorsal and lateral tubercles 

 of these same segments. 



Tlic fourth and last sju-ing molt occurs in the early part 

 of.Iune, when the larva is from an inch to an inch and a 

 • luartcr in length. The head is pale brown, mottled with 



