16 THE EEPORT OF THE No. 36 



bare on both sides of the river by the voracious caterpillars. The woods of poplar 

 and birch between Ironside and Chelsea, and back from Chelsea to Kingsmere, 

 were entirely denuded of foliage and resembled their winter condition. Such de- 

 foliation was complete on June 4th. In the last week of May and the first week 

 of June the caterpillars congregated in thousands upon the tracks of the Canadian 

 Pacific Eailway between Ironside and Chelsea. Trains were stopped almost every 

 day during that period, and on isome occasions hours were spent in endeavoring to 

 get the train from the foi'mer to the latter station, the distance between being only 

 about Syo miles. Here, however, the grades are heavy and the engine could not 

 make any headway on account of the caterpillars being present on the tracks in such 

 numbers. For a part of the period the early afternoon train for Chelsea had two 

 engines, and on one evening with three engines it was impossible at first to make the 

 grade. Night after night the conductor and fireman or engineer would run ahead 

 of, the train and brush off the caterpillars with a broom, or shovel sand over the 

 rails so that the wheels of the engine could get a grip. I never saw such hordes of 

 caterpillars before, and farmers who have lived in the district for sixty years re- 

 port that they have never experienced such an outbreak. Poplar and birch were 



& 



& 



mMifi 



Pig. 9. — Forest Tent Caterpillar (Moth and Eggis). 



the two trees particularly favoured by the caterpillars, but maple, oak, ash, willow, 

 apple, wild cherry, and even raspberry, were defoliated. By the middle of June 

 the caterpillars were mature and beginning to spin their cocoons. The first moths 

 began to emerge early in July, but the vast numbers of them did not appear till 

 about the middle of the month. At this time they migrated to the arc lights in 

 the city of Ottawa in myriads and the females were ovipositing on electric light 

 poles, fences, and particularly on shade trees along the city streets. Countless 

 numbers of eggs were deposited, and there is, unfortunately, every indication of 

 another serious outbreak of the Forest Tent Caterpillar in 1913. In the vicinity 

 of Chelsea, Que. (about nine miles from Ottawa), large numbers of the cater- 

 pillars were destroyed, just before maturity, by a disease apparently of a fungous 

 nature. They were attached to the trunks of trees, fences, and other perpendicular 

 objects. On one tree I counted 692 dead larvae. These were massed together on 

 the trunk of a medium-sized tree, and all within about four feet of the ground. 



The Spruce Budworji (Toririx fumiferann Clem.). In the immediate 

 vicinity of Ottawa the caterpillars were again fairly abundant, but I did not ob- 

 serve any conspicuous destruction of foliage. Many moths were noticed around 

 spruces on the Farm, particularly in the latter half of July, when many egg masses 

 were deposited on the trees. The first moth reared emerged on June 24. 



The Maple Leap-Eoller (Cemopis pettitana Eob.). In my report for last 

 year I referred to an interesting occurrence of this species at Chelsea, Que., 



