INSECTS INFESTING THE APPLE TREE 



81 



Fig. 48.— DeLong's Moth (male)— col- 

 ors, light and dark brown. 



Male (Fig. 48) antennae, short, curved, 

 moderately bipectinated in both sexes, 

 the pectinations gradually decreasing in 

 length to the apex, and shortest in the 

 females ; thorax, robust ; pilose, (hairy) ; 



abdomen, elongate — robust in female, and tufted in both; 

 femur (thigh) and tibia (shin) hairy. The male insect expands 

 one inch and three lines, the female one inch and six to'seven 

 lines. The female is lighter in color than the male. 



Fig. 49.— DeLong's Moth (fe- 

 male) — colors, light and dark 

 brown. 



The female moth (Fig. 49) lays 

 her eggs — two to three hundred 

 in number — in rows around the 

 new growth of wood (Fig. 50), 

 and covers them with an apparent water-proof substance to 

 protect them through the Winter season. 



Fig. 49. 



Fig. 50. 



»^ 



Fig. 50. — Eggs of DeLong's 

 Moth — color, reddish brown. 



About the time the leaves are 

 unfolding in the Spring, the 

 young hatch and feed on the foliage and young fruit. Mr. 

 DeLong had a block of two thousand apple trees completely 

 stripped of fruit and foliage by these caterpillars. 



METHOD ADOPTED BY MR. DE LONG FOR DESTROYING THE 

 CATERPILLARS. 



He placed a band of butter-cloth, about four inches wdde, 

 covered with tallow, on the trees about two feet above the 

 ground. He discovered that the caterpillars could form 

 bridges over the tallow, especially at night. Over the tallow 

 he placed soft lard, which proved effective. Men with brooms 

 swept the caterpillars off the trunks, limbs, and branches of 

 the trees. The caterpillars attempted to ascend the trees 

 again, but would not cross the greased band. On every tree 

 they gathered in such immense numbers between the bands 



