218 VAP0RER MOTH ITS DESTRUCTIVENESS. 



are frequently quite a nuisance. How pernicious they are upon 

 fruit trees, even when their numbers are not excessive, is suffi- 

 ciently shown in a communication from H. B. Ives, of Salem, 

 Mass., published in Hovey's Magazine, vol. i, p. 52. Mr. Ives 

 removed all the eggs of these insects from three of his apple 

 trees. He found twenty-one clusters of eggs upon these three 

 trees. The rest of the trees in his orchard he left untouched. 

 The eggs hatched and the* young worms had commenced their 

 ravages upon the tenth of May. He watched them " from time 

 to time, until many branches had been spoiled of their leaves, 

 and in the autumn were entirely destitute of fruit; while the 

 three trees which had been stripped of the eggs, were flush with 

 foliage, each limb without exception, ripening its fruit." Dr. 

 Harris states (Treatise, p. 283) that these caterpillars were quite 

 abundant in the vicinity of Eoston in 1848, '49 and '50; and 

 that the horse-chestnuts planted beside the streets and in the 

 parks of that city — trees which are so little liable to be attacked 

 by insects — were almost entirely stripped of their leaves by 

 them. 



Fortunately it is an easy matter to exterminate these insects 

 from the trees which they invade, by picking off and destroying 

 their eggs. These are readily found during the winter, the dead 

 leaf adhering to th« cocoon to which the eggs are attached, being 

 conspicuous upon the naked twigs. Sometimes, though very 

 rarely, little clusters of dead leaves will be met with adhering 

 to the limbs of fruit trees, which have not been tied there by 

 the vapor er moth, but by another creature belonging to this di- 

 vision of the animal kingdom. The careful orchardist will 

 hereby, when gathering the- eggs of the vaporer moth, be some- 

 times deceived, and put to the trouble of mounting into a tree 

 and bending a limb towards him, by this impostor; though from 

 the greater number of the leaves, their more dull and decayed 

 appearance, and their being more loosely tied together, making 

 a rattling noise when agitated by the wind or by shaking the 

 limb, the cheat will generally be known at a distance of several 

 feet. These counterfeit clusters of dead leaves originally formed 

 the nest of a Palmer worm {Chatochilus pometellus) or some other 

 worm having the same habit of drawing several leaves together 



