1917 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 70 



Missouri in 1869, and in Vol. II of tlie same publication (1870) Riley states 

 that the infestation was severe in Arkansas and Illinois, both that year and the 

 preceding, and that it had been very destructive in Missouri during the past 

 three years. Eiley again reports it, (' Report Insects of Missouri/ VIII, pp. 

 22-26) as sometimes appearing in countless numbers in the oak forests of the 

 South, and says, that in 1872 it was so abundant at Memphis, Tennessee, as 

 to hold up trains on several occasions. 



It may be well here to note that the above-mentioned outbreak was co-incident 

 with the first general outbreak in the Eastern forests. 



'No further ravages of the insect are recorded until 1883, when Forbes reports 

 them ("Thirteenth Ann. Rej). of the Illinois State Ent.,' 1883, p. 10) as having 

 made a frightful inroad upon the apple orchards in Southern Illinois. He also 

 mentions the same outbreak in his Seventeenth ' Report of the Insects of Illinois,' 

 1885, p. XIII. In his Fourth ' Report of the Insects of Xew York,' Lintner 

 refers to this infestation in Illinois and states that it was arrested by a contagious 

 disease known as muscardine. 



As previously noted in the history of the Eastern Region, Fletcher, in 1887, 

 stated that the Tent Caterpillars were in great abundance that season all over 

 Canada so they were in all probability present in the Central Region or in the 

 northern part of it at least. Bruner notes their occurrence (' Neb. Agr. Exp. 

 Sta. Bull.,' 14, pp. 33-38) in Nebraska in ISOO, and says they are frequently 

 met with upon the prairies several miles from natural groves. In 1891, Murtfeldt 

 (' U. S. Div. Ent. Bull.,' 26, pp. 40-41) reported a remarkable outbreak in 

 Minnesota. She says the papers reported armies of them throughout the forests of 

 the North-west, and a large portion of the forests were defoliated as well as 

 many orchards. 



The nest outbreak recorded is in 1898, when Pettit* reports a severe infesta- 

 tion in some parts of Michigan. The same year Lugger (' Minn. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Bull.,' 61, pp. 194-199) said the insect was fairly abundant in Minnesota, being 

 more common than the Orchard Tent. Three years later, in the " Annual Report 

 of the Entomological Society of Ontario," p. 119, Gregson states that the cater- 

 pillars were abundant that year in Assiniboia, and the insect was recorded for 

 the first time, in Red Deer and Lacombe districts. Hudson* found a brood 

 on P. tremuloides at Millarville, Alberta, in 1902; and Fletcher (' C. E. F. 

 Report,' 1904) mentions finding what he thought was tMs species near Edmonton, 

 " The moths," he states, " were in thousands just emerging." From these notes 

 we would infer that the outbreak was quite general over the Central Region, 



The infestation which was so severe in the Eastern Forests from 1910 to 1915, 

 does not seem to have extended its ravages to the Central Region, and no further 

 outbreaks have so far been recorded. 



Wcsiern Region. 



No information is available concerning the early history of this pest in the 

 Western Region. The first reference to it is found in Saunders' " Insects Injurious 

 to Fruits," published in 1883. In this he gives an account of the Forest Tent 

 Caterpillar, and states that it is often very abundant in the West. This does 

 not give us definite data concerning any outbreak, l)ut assures us that the insect 



'1898. Pettit. R. H.. Mich. Agr. Exp. Sta.. Bull. 175. pp. 349-350. 



=1906. Dod, F. H. Wolley. Canadian Entomologist. XXVI II., N.o 2, p. 54. 



