INSECTS ATTACKING LARGE FRUITS. 



85 



State Horticultural Society for 1882, Mr. A. N. Godfrey says of 

 this pest : 



During the late summer months our forest trees became partially 

 covered with a thick web, spun among the outer branches and terminal 

 shoots. . . . The Web-worm is found on most of our forest and 

 fruit-trees, but seems to prefer the hickory and walnut among the for- 

 mer, and the pear among the latter. 



APPLE-TREE TENT CATERPILLAR. 



(Clisiocampa americana Harris; Order, Lepidoptera.) 



Diagnosis. — Hairy, blackish caterpillars, two inches or less in 

 length; white stripe along the back; feeding on the leaves in 

 May and June ; silken webs or " tents " in which the caterpillars 

 lie at night, on stormy days, and at other times when not feeding. 



Description and Life-history. — The adult is a reddish-brown 

 moth, with conspicuously (male) or inconspicuously (female) 

 feathered antenna; expanse of wings 

 about 1 Hnches. The moth appears 

 in June, and is unprovided with 

 developed mouth-parts. It deposits 

 its eggs and soon dies. The eggs 

 are deposited in masses of two or 

 three hundred, arranged in "ring- 

 like clusters" on the twigs. The 

 egg mass is covered with a sort of 

 varnish unaffected by rain. The 

 larva? do not come from the eggs 

 until the following spring, hatching 

 about May 1, at the time the first 

 leaf buds are expanding. They feed 

 five or six weeks before becoming 

 full-grown. The "tents" are spun 

 immediately after hatching, and en- 

 larged, or new ones spun as nec- 

 essary. The full-grown larv?e are 

 almost two inches long, " hairy and black, with a white stripe 

 down the back, and on each side of this central stripe there are 



i 



Fig. 47. Apple-tree Tent Cater- 

 pillar; a, larva; b, cluster of eggs 

 around twig. 



