TRUE TUSSOCK-MOTHS. &9 
At present it is almost entirely confined to our cities, where 
the caterpillars feed upon the foliage of such shade-trees as 
the soft maples, poplars, andcotton-wood. It is not unusual 
to find fastened to the trunks of such trees grayish cocoons, 
to which are usually fastened a mass of glistening white 
eggs. These latter attract the attention of the passer-by, 
who would not be apt to detect as readily the grayish 
cocoons of the males. Where these caterpillars have found a 
home in our orchards, the cocoons can also be detected late 
in autumn, or after the leaves have fallen, by investigating 
the dead leaves still fastened here and there to the branches 
of the trees; these almost invariably contain cocoons of 
such insects. . 
The eggs, which are deposited upon the outside of the 
cocoon, simply because the wingless female finds this the 
nearest and best place for this purpose, are found to be 
arranged in three or four layers; they are covered with a 
frothy mass that serves to protect them. From 300 to 500 
eggs are found together; each egg is of a white color, nearly 
globular, and flattened on the upper surface. The eggs 
remain in this condition over winter, and hatch about the 
middle of May, when the young caterpillarsimmediately pro- 
ceed to ascend to the foliage of the tree upon which they 
were born. These caterpillars are frequently called ‘‘Drop- 
worms,’’ because they have the habit, when disturbed, of 
letting themselves down by a silken thread, remaining sus- 
pended until the danger is past, when they climb up again 
“hand over hand”’ to reach the leaf. 
There are few caterpillars that are as handsome as this 
one, in spite of what may be said about worms never being 
beautiful. They are more than an inch long, of a bright 
yellow color, with the head and two small protuberances on 
the hinder part of the back of a brilliant coral-red. Along 
the back we see four cream-colored brush-like tufts, two long 
black plumes on the anterior part of the body, and one on 
the posterior. The sides areclothed with long and fine hairs. 
