752 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



and enter another tree. This is not a part of its acciistoraed line of action, and it 

 could not recover from so rude a shock as robbery of its home. There would be 

 no absolute need of burning the broken shoots, but this might be done where there 

 is any danger of their falling near seedlings, which it is possible the wandering out- 

 casts might enter ; and it should certainly be done if the operation has to extend into 

 July, when the caterpillar might bo ready to change to chrysalis, which it could do 

 in its burrow whether the shoot were attached to the tree or fallen to the ground. 

 Since some more adA^auced caterpillars might as early as June undergo such trans- 

 formation, doubtless the most thorough way would be to have the work finished 

 before the end of June and to burn every broken shoot ; to cut oft' any suspected 

 shoot rather than to leave one affected, or even to remove every growing shoot.* 

 But anything less radical than the means here suggested would be wasted labor. 

 Leave them alone and the pine woods of Nantucket are doomed to destruction ; to 

 plant new trees would be to add fuel to flames. There is no possible escape but in 

 some radical and concerted action such as is here suggested ; and this is possible 

 only because of the isolation of Nantucket and the comparatively small extent of 

 its little forest. Ten men, each armed with a pair of hedge shears and ladders of 

 some sort, ought to accomplish it in the month. Whether it will " pay" is for the 

 Nantucket people to decide. But if they will not do it, their next best plan is to cut 

 down the entire forest, sell the wood, and burn the brush, leaving not even a seed- 

 ling anywhere ; then to pasture the sheep upon the spot for two years, and carefully 

 destroy every seedling that springs up outside the fences which confine the sheep. 

 After that it would be safe to plant again by seed. 



We add Professor Comstock's notes on this insect : 



"About the middle of May, 1879, the scrub-pines {Pinus inops) in Vir- 

 ginia, near Washington, were found to be greatly injured by small 

 lepidopterous larvse. On many trees there was scarcely a new shoot 

 to be found which was not infested at its tip by from one to four yel- 

 lowish black-headed caterpillars. They were so completely concealed 

 while at work that their presence would scarcely be noticed, and the 

 effect of their work was hardly visible until the twig was almost com- 

 pletely destroyed. Upon close examination a delicate web was seen 

 inclosing the base of the bud and the surrounding new leaflets, resem- 

 bling much the nest of a small spider. When this web was removed 

 one or several little yellow caterpillars were seen retreating into a mine 



*I am told by good botanists that the tree would probably recover from this 

 Caesarian operation, and it might be easier and more rapid than to select the aff'ected 

 shoots. It certainly would be safer. Dr. G. L. Goodale has called my attention to 

 the following passage, which seems to him to indicate that the tree would survive: 

 " The pitch pine," says Smith, "difi"ers from other trees of this family, itsstump throw- 

 ing up sprouts the spring after the stem has been felled, but these do not attain any 

 considerable height. The fallen trunk throws out sprouts in the succeeding summer ; 

 and the bundles of leaves of both are remarkable for issuing from the axil of a single 

 leaf in the same manner as in the young plant." — Michaux, N. Amer. Sylva, vol. iii, 

 pp. 89, 90, note (1853). 



Mr. George B. Emerson also says of the same tree: " Itsstump throws up sprouts 

 the spring after the stem has been felled. These continue to flourish, with apparent 

 vigor, for several years ; but I have never seen them attain any considerable height. 

 The fallen trunk itself throws out sprouts in the succeeding summer; and the 

 bundles of leaves of both are remarkable for issuing from the axil of a single leaf, in 

 the same manner as is observed in the young plant." — Emerson, Trees and Shrubs of 

 Mass., Stale ed., p. 73, 8vo, Boston, 1846. 



