1917 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 77 



Ontario," (Bethime, 'Ann. Kcp. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1875, p. 7). "Very serious ravages 

 of this insect in Maine during the past two years," (Fernald, * Agr. Maine,' 1875- 

 1876, pp. 19-21). "Millions upon millions of them in Western Ontario," 

 (Saunders, 'Ann. Kep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1877, p. 4). '"Very active and on constant 

 parade over shrubs, fields, orchards, and gardens. They are recruited so plenti- 

 fully from the forests, that we fairly sicken of the fight and despair of the pros- 

 pects of victory," (' Gott, Ann. Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1877, p. 41). "Had a fire 

 passed through our orchards it could not have left our apple trees under more 

 barren poles," (Burnet, 'Eep. Fruit Growers' Assn. Ont.,' 1S77, p. 10). " Xot 

 so numerous as last year. . . . Mites destroyed many of the eggs and severe 

 frosts in May, fungus diseases, parasites and birds, killed off many of the ^ .rvse," 

 (Saunders, 'Ann. Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1878, p. 5 and pp. 28-30). "T'le tent 

 caterpillars have almost entirely disappeared," (Saunders, 'Ann. Rep. Ent. Soc. 

 Ont.,' 1880, p. 9). Li these notes we have given very briefly the story of this 

 outbreak which extended from 1874 to 1878 and did enormous damage over the 

 greater portion of the Eastern Eegion. 



In the year 1884 the insect was reported as very injurious in Xew Brunswick 

 and Xova Scotia by Fletcher ('Eep. Ent. and Bot.,' 1885, p. 32). It was also 

 .referred to by Packard in the ' Fifth Eeport of the U. S. Entomological Com- 

 mission,' pp. 117-118. This outbreak seems to have been quite local in character, 

 but may have been the beginning of the next general outbreak, which began to 

 attract attention in Vermont in 1886, when Lintner reported it as causing con- 

 siderable injury to apple trees \n that State. By the following year its ravages 

 had spread over the entire Eastern Eegion, and in fact over the entire continent. 

 Fletcher ('Eep. Exp. Farms, Canada,' 1887, p. 29) says, "The tent caterpillars 

 were in great abundance all over Canada during the past season and seemed to 

 attack almost every kind of deciduous tree." In 1888 it was reported as abundant 

 in Maine ('Me. Agr. Exp. Stn. Eep.' 1888, p. 164) and the following year its 

 ravages in that State were extremely severe. Most of the orchards and all the 

 poplars, oak, cherry, and many other deciduous trees were completely defoliated 

 in several sections, and railway trains were held up on several occasions for two 

 and three hours at a time, by the innumerable legions of them crossing the tracks. 

 Eiley and Howard 'Insect Life,' 2, pp. 58-59). The same year C'aulfield 

 (Montreal) reports them as "all too common on our forest trees," ('Ann. Eep. 

 Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1889, p. 64). This was the end of the general outbreak for 

 Bethune on page seven of the " Annual Eeport of the Entomological Society of 

 Ontario," 1890, says " The tent caterpillars have been remarkable for their absence 

 or rarity in all parts of Ontario." Only two local infestations are recorded that 

 year, one being in the Penobscot Valle3'j Maine ('Me. Agr. Exp. Stn. Rep.,' 1890, 

 p. 138), and the other in "Washington County, Xew York (Lintner, '6th Eep.,' 

 p. 106). 



In 1891 a very severe local infestation was reported by Eiley and Howard 

 (' Insect Life,' pp. 477-478) on oak and gum trees in Carolina during which 

 train traffic was seriously interfered with for several days. 



In 'Bulletin Xo. 76 of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station' (1900) 

 Perkins says that the insect began to attract attention in Vermont in 1895, and 

 its ravages on maple became very extensive the following year, but it was not 

 until 1897 that we again find general mention of the ravages of this pest. In 

 that year Fletcher* reports them as " so abundant at Ottawa that they actually 



m 



•1897. Fletcher, Ann. Rep. Ent. Soc. Ont. p. 34. 



