78 THE EEPOKT OF THE No. 36 



starved themselves out by stripping." Harrington (Ont.) also reports the appear- 

 ance of the caterpillars " in great numbers " on poplars and other trees. Perkins' 

 in the same year reports it widely distributed over Vermont, many woods and 

 orchards being entirely stripped. Their depredations were even more severe the 

 following year, when Fletcher says ('Ann. Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1898, pp. 84-85) 

 "the Tent-caterpillars have been even more abundant than last year in almost 

 every Province of Canada." Hutt and Moffat, (' Ann. Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont./) 

 both report them being so abundant as to interfere with the running of trains 

 in many parts of Ontario. Their excessive destructiveness is reported by Weed 

 in New Hampshire ('Bull. N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta.,' No. 59, pp. 199-301). 

 Felt in his Fourteenth ' Eeport of the State Entomologist of New York,' says, 

 " the ravages of 1897 and 1898 have been unprecedented in the annals of the 

 State." In 1899 he'' reports serious outbreaks, particularly in the Catskill 

 Mountains and in the borders of the Adirondacks. " Ten cents per quart," he 

 says, " were offered for the cocoons in many villages." The reports of Lowe 

 '('Geneva N. Y. Bull.' 159) and Slingerland ('Cornell Exp. Sta. Bull.,' 170, pp. 

 559-564) corroborate those of Felt. Perkins' reports very great damage in Ver- 

 mont in 1898 and 1899 and also states that " There have been occasional out- 

 breaks since 1791, but the ravages of the present exceed any of the past both here, 

 and in New York, Maine and Canada." Similar reports from other sections 

 clearly point to this outbreak as exceeding both in severity and in extent, the 

 ravages of any of the preceding ones. In 1900, the outbreak subsided, and in 

 1901 the caterpillars were reported as very scarce, all over the country. Three 

 years later in the ' Annual Eeport of the Entomological Society of Ontario,' 

 Fletcher states " not a moth or caterpillar of this species was seen at Ottawa this 

 year," and in 1905, Evans ('Ann. Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' p. 50) says, "The Tent 

 caterpillar seemingly has disappeared entirely." 



The insect did not again become numerous until 1910 when Hewitt ('Ann. 

 Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' p. 29) reported its occurrence in very large numbers in 

 the Eastern Provinces and British Columbia. This marks the beginning of our 

 latest outbreak in the Eastern Eegion, and its ravages are too well known by this 

 generation to require much discussion here. Gibson reports hordes of the cater- 

 pillars and says, ('Ann. Eep. Ent. Soc. Ont.,' 1912, pp. 15-16) "It is the most 

 remarkable outbreak of an injurious insect on record at Ottawa," and further stated 

 that in the Gatineau Valley especially near Chelsea, many trains were held up, the 

 evening passenger trains having been forced to use two and sometimes three engines 

 in order to get along at all. Lochhead reported it equally bad in Quebec and their 

 depredations were just as severe in New Brunswick and the Eastern States. Their 

 ravages began to decrease in 1914, and in 1915 the insect had practically dis- 

 appeared. 



Central Region. 



There seems to be no record of the Forest Tent Caterpillar in the Central 

 Region until 1867, but it had no doubt been present in greater or less numbers 

 for some time previous to this. 



In his Third ' Eeport of the Insects of Missouri,' Eiley reported this species 

 as very destructive in 1867, and also the following year, in Arkansas and Missouri. 

 The American Entomologist, Vol. 1, p. 208, records an outbreak of the insect in 



'1897. Perkins. G. H., Vt. Agr. Exp. Sta.. Bull. No. 60, p. 529. 

 ^899. Felt, E. P., Bull. No. 20, N.S., U.S. Div. Ent., pp. 60-62. 

 ==1900. Perkins, G. H., Vt. Agr. Exp. Sta., Bull. 76, pp. 113-137. 



