THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



179 



grown larvae or caterpillars vary from one and one half to two inches 

 in length. They are generally gray in color with niimerons colored 

 spots and many tufts, consisting of four prominent white ones on the 

 dorsum and two distinct black tufts or horns on the head and one near 

 the posterior end. The adult females are wingless and light silvery-gray 

 in color. The males are winged and gray in color. 



Life History. — The eggs are deposited by the freshly emerged females 

 during the months of May, June and July. The caterpillars upon 

 hatching begin to feed upon the young fruit and foliage and continue 



Fig. 164. — The California tussock moth. A and B, adult 

 wingless females ; D, cocoons ; E, egg masses attached to the 

 cocoons ; P, eggs ; G, internal parasite working upon cocoons. 

 (Original.) 



their depredations for from forty to sixty days, when they spin cocoons 

 singly or in large colonies. The moths emerge the following spring, 

 mate, and the females begin egg laying. The winter is passed in the 

 egg stage. 



Distribution. — Occurs throughout the central part of the State, espe- 

 cially along the coast. 



Food Plants. — The principal food of this insect is the foliage or 

 young fruit of the apple, but it also feeds upon live oak, the yellow 

 perennial lupin, cherry and walnut. 



Control. — Spraying with poison sprays have proven unsatisfactory, 

 due to the fact that the caterpillars are able to eat large doses without 

 apparent injury. Hand picking of the egg masses has been followed 



