102 



FRUIT INSECTS 



Fig. 114. 



woven, on the bark in the crotches of the trees or on fences 

 or houses near by. In about two weeks the moths emerge. 

 The hairy, grub-hke, light-grayish females have mere stubs 

 of wings, and usually remain on their empty cocoons until 



after they mate and lay a 

 mass of from 150 to over 700 

 eggs thereon (Fig. 113). The 

 nearly spherical, yellowish- 

 white eggs are covered bj^ a 

 mass of conspicuous white, 

 ,______-__,,_ frothy material. The ashy- 



mM T^^^M^^ grsij colored male moths have 



^^m|hHK feathery antennae and well 



^^^^^^ developed wings, which ex- 



^^W panel about If inches (Fig. 



,114). The front wings are 



— Male white-marked tussock- 

 moth, crossed by undulated bands 



of darker shades and bear a 



conspicuous white spot near the anal angle, hence the name 



leucostigma or white-marked. The winter is always passed 



in the egg stage, the caterpillars hatching late in May in 



New York. 



Natural enemies. 



This tussock-moth is beset by many enemies. At least 10 

 different birds eat the caterpillars and doubtless do much to 

 keep the insect in check in orchards and the open country. 

 Several species of shield-bugs and the southern wheel-bug 

 attack the caterpillars and pupae ; the pupae are also eaten by 

 small red ants. The grubs of two Dermestid beetles and a 

 species of mite may devour the eggs. And as niany as 90 per 

 cent of the caterpillars and pupae sometimes fall a prey to more 

 than 20 different kinds of hymenopterous and dipterous in- 

 sect parasites, the most effective of these little enemies being 

 Pimpla inquisitor, Chalcis ovata, Tachina rnella, Frontina frenchii, 



