CANKERWORMS SNODGRASS 



329 



Ordinarily, however, the insects are too feAV in numbers to be 

 often observed in transit from the places of emergence to the tree 

 trunk; and whether in such cases, under variable weather condi- 

 tions, the journey is long or short, whether it involves a devious 

 search, whether some sense or instinct unerringly guides the travel- 

 ers, or whether many miss their destinations, has not been deter- 

 mined. The writer, however, once marked four active fall canker- 

 worm females with spots of white water-color paint and placed 

 them on the ground on four sides of an apple tree at 4, 6, 7, and 8 

 feet, respectively, from the base of the trunk. On the sixth day 

 following, which was the 1st day of December, one of the marked 

 individuals was found on the trunk of the tree, about 2y2 feet above 

 the ground. The one placed at 7 feet had 

 been missing for five days. During these five 

 days, then, she had made the journey of 7 

 feet over the ground. The night after she 

 was missed from the starting point a light 

 snow fell and lay on the ground most of the 

 next day. The succeeding days were bright, 

 though cold and raw. The other three moths 

 were still at or near the places where they 

 had been set out. Several more females were 

 then marked in a similar manner and placed 

 beneath trees, but only the one just described 

 was ever recovered. This one, during the 

 afternoon of the day of her arrival on the 

 tree trunk, moved a foot and a half higher 

 and then remained at this point until 11 

 o'clock on the morning of the following day. 

 After this she was seen no more, probably 

 having continued her journey up the trunk 

 and out on one of the branches of the tree. 

 Many of the females wait a much longer time 

 on the trunk of the tree before proceeding 

 upward. Some sit in one spot through several days and nights. 

 Wliether they are detained by unpropitious weather or whether they 

 wait for a male was not determined. Only one pair of mated moths 

 was observed, and they were found about 10 o'clock one morning on 

 the upper end of the trunk of an apple tree. 



The males of the fall cankerworm (fig. 15) resemble the males of 

 the spring cankerworm, though they are more yellowish-brown in 

 color, and have the outer margin of each fore wing marked with a 

 pale grayish spot toward the tip. In Connecticut, they may fre- 

 quently l3e seen on warm afternoons of November fluttering along 

 the roadsides or flitting about in the orchards. A male canker moth 



Fig. 15. — Male moth of 

 the fall cankerworm 

 in resting position on 

 a twig (X 21/2) 



