266 APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY 



the character which has given this insect its common name. The moths spread 

 about an inch and both sexes are strong fliers, appearing early in July. They 

 are somewhat attracted to lights but in most cases the females found thus 

 attracted, appear to have already laid their eggs. The moths lay 200 or 300 

 eggs in a cluster, usually on the leaves, and cover them with brown hairs from 

 the tip of the abdomen. They hatch in from 2 to 3 weeks and the little cater- 

 pillars feed on the foliage in company during the early fall, leaving the veins, and 

 thus skeletonizing the leaves. Early in September they go together to the tip 

 of some twig and there spin a very tough, dense, silvery tent incorporating 

 some of the leaves in it, to use as their resting place for the winter. The size and 

 form of this tent will vary with the number of caterpillars contributing to its 

 formation, but it is usually three or four inches long and an inch or two in 

 diameter at its widest p lace. After the leaves fall these tents at the tips of 

 the twigs are very conspicuous objects during the winter. At the time of the 

 formation of the tent the caterpillars are about one-third of an inch long. 



In the spring as soon as the leaf-buds begin to open, the caterpillars leave 

 their tents and scatter, feeding until June when they become fully grown and 

 are about an inch and a half long, brown, slightly mixed with orange, fairly well 

 covered with fine reddish-brown hairs, and with two bright red tubercles, one 

 behind the other, on the middle line of the body above, near the hinder end. 

 These red tubercles are very distinctive and give a positive recognition of this 

 caterpillar. 



The hairs just mentioned are delicate, brittle, barbed in some cases, and 

 secrete a poisonous fluid very irritating to the skin. As the caterpillars molt 

 these hairs are liable to be broken off and carried through the air to persons or 

 onto their clothing, and a painful rash somewhat resembling that caused by 

 poison ivy is produced, known as the "brown-tail rash." 



Pupation usually occurs among the leaves and after about 20 days is followed 

 by the emergence of the adult moths. The cocoon, though more developed than 

 with the Gypsy Moth, is not very thick or dense, and the pupa can generally be 

 seen through its walls. 



Control. — Cutting off and burning the winter tents at any time between Sep- 

 tember and April is an effective method of control where the size of the tree is 

 such that the tents can easily be reached. Spraying with arsenate of lead, 

 standard formula, either in the fall if no fruit is involved, or when the larvae 

 first resume feeding in the spring, is also a good treatment. 



Many of the parasites imported by the Federal Government to destroy 

 the Gypsy Moth, attack this species also and appear to have done good work. 

 For the last few years this insect has been rather less abundant than was pre- 

 viously the case. Whether this condition will continue, or outbreaks will recur 

 from time to time cannot now be determined, but probably the latter will be 

 true. 



Family Notodontidae (The Prominents). — The Prominents as the insects 

 of this family are often called, are of medium size as adults and usually not at all 

 brilliantly colored. Few of them are serious pests, and then generally only for 

 a year or two at a time. The caterpillars of the different species differ greatly 

 in appearance, some having dorsal humps or projections, others a much elongated 

 end of the body, or other modification of the typical form of caterpillar. 



