176 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



of a light-yellow color, and having a dark-red head. The 

 fore wings of the moth expand one and three quarter inch- 

 es, and are of a nankeen-yellow color, with very small light- 

 brown dots upon them, while the hind wings are similar, 

 but much paler. The female of this moth is about half an 

 inch long, and, like the other species, has no wings. Their 

 manner of living and time of metamorphosis is about the 

 same with the insect just described, the canker-worm, and 

 their ravages upon the foliage, buds, and blossoms of lime, 

 poplar, and elm trees, are equally ruinous and destructive. 

 Many of these trees, as also some fruit trees, are entirely 

 stripped of their foliage by them, and ultimately destroyed. 



The ravages of these two species of insects are so common, 

 and annually do so much injury to the farmer, the gardener, 

 and the horticulturist, that we can not forbear laying before 

 our readers some of the methods for preventing this evil, 

 which we think judicious and effectual, and, rather than to 

 use our own words, we quote from the work of the late Dr. 

 Harris, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, " On the Insects In- 

 jurious to Vegetation," Boston, 1852. 



He says, page 363, '• In order to protect our trees from 

 the ravages of canker-worms, it should be our aim, if pos- 

 sible, to prevent the wingless females from ascending the 

 trees to deposit their eggs. This can be done by the ap- 

 plication of tar around the body of the tree, either directly 

 on the bark, as has been the most common practice, or, 

 what is better, over a broad belt of clay mortar, or on strips 

 of old canvas, or of strong paper from six to twelve inches 

 wide, fastened around the trunk with strings. The tar 

 must be applied as early as the first of November, and per- 

 haps in October, and it should be renewed daily as long as 

 the insects continue rising ; after which the bands may be 

 removed, and the tar should be entirely scraped from the 

 bark. When all this has been properly and seasonably done, 

 it has proved effectual. The time, labor, and expense at- 



