EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



293 



The Fall Web-worm. {Ilyphantria cunea.) 



During the latter part of the season one often sees the large, forbidding web 

 of the fall web-worm, sometimes three feet in length and including leaves and 

 branches. Inside the nest is the colony of caterpillars, each when full grown, 

 more than an inch in length, and covered with long straight white hairs. The 

 members of a colony come from a single cluster of eggs laid on a leaf. The 

 caterpillars descend, when full-grown, to the ground, and either burrow slightly 

 under the surface, or else hide in rubbish and spin cocoons in which to pupate. 

 The adult is a moth usually pure white in color and measures about I'/i inches 

 from tip to tip of the wings. Some of the moths are more or less spotted with 

 black. In the South this insect is said to be two-brooded. The work of this 

 caterpillar can easily be distinguished from that of the tent-caterpillar by the 

 hairy larv£e and the fact that the nest is extended as the colony grows larger. 

 The larvas of the tent-caterpillar being nearly smooth, and leaving the tent to 

 forage, after they become partially grown. 



REMEDIES. 



Paris-green, applied early, usually keeps the tree clear, but after the nest is 

 well under way, it must be removed by hand or burned out. A torch made of 

 rags, wired to a long pole, and saturated with kerosene, will prove just the 

 ihing. It should be held some distance under the nest in order to cook the 

 caterpillars and destroy the nest without injuring the branch. If placed too 

 close to the nest, at first, the nest will burn like a flash and allow the larvae 

 to drop to the ground unhurt. 



Fig.' 9. — The Fall Web-worm, Hyphantria cunea. 

 from Riley, Third Rep. State Entomologist of Mo. 



Fig. 10. — Bud Moth, from Davis. 



The Bud-moth. (Tmetocera ocellana.) 



Early in the spring, just as they commence to swell and open, the buds of 

 apple and pear and sometimes those of plum, cherry, quince and peach trees, are 

 occasionally attacked by small, almost naked caterpillars, about a fifth of an 

 inch long, and dirty white in color, the head and thoracic shield being black or 

 very dark brown. The caterpillars feed on the opening buds, later binding the 

 young leaves and blossoms together with silken threads. Inside the nest thus 

 formed, the larvae feed and attain the length of nearly three-fourths of an inch, 

 change to pupae and finally to adult, winged moths, which usually emerge here 

 during the last of June, or first part of July. The eggs are soon laid and the 

 larvae hatched, the young larvae feeding on the under side of the leaves and 

 skeletonizing them. When partially grown, they spin small nests or hibernaculi, 

 in protected places, and remain until the following spring, when they attack the 

 buds as described. 



BEMEDIES. 



The best remedy is to spray with arsenicals just as the buds open. Cover 

 the buds with poison, and the young larvae will be killed early in their career. 

 Sometimes more than one application is necessary, but be sure to hit each bud 



