APPLE INSECTS — BUDS AND FOLIAGE 



135 



U. S. Bur. Ent. Bull. 87. 1910. (Contains references to the important 

 reports on the gipsy and brown-tail moths published by the various 

 New England States.) 



U. S. Farmers' Bull. 564. 1914. 



The Brown-tail Moth 



Euproctis chrysorrhoea Linnaeus 



This well-known and destructive European caterpillar was 

 accidentally introduced into Massachusetts in the vicinity of 

 Boston probably in the early 

 nineties, but did not attract 

 attention by its ravages till 

 1897. Since that time it has 

 gradually extended its rav- 

 ages so that now the infested 

 area includes part of Rhode 

 Island, the greater part of 

 Massachusetts, southern 

 New Hampshire, southern 

 Maine and extends into New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 

 The brown-tail moth has 

 been able to spread more 

 rapidly than the gipsy moth, 

 owing to the fact that the 

 females are good fliers, and when aided by favorable winds 

 may be transported to a considerable distance. Unlike the 

 gipsy moth, the brown-tail caterpillars do not feed on 

 coniferous trees, their favorite food-plants being apple, pear 

 and oak. The caterpillars, and to a less extent the moths, 

 are provided with minute barbed hairs, which are poisonous 

 to the human skin, causing an annoying and sometimes serious 

 irritation known as th(^ brown-tail rash. 



Fig. 148. — Brown-tail moth depositing 

 egg-mass on a leaf. 



