THE APPLE-TREE TENT CATERPILLAR. 8 
particularly in the New England States. This species was among 
the first to receive attention by the early American entomologists, 
and the principal features in its life and habits have been known for 
many years. Throughout its extended distribution the insect is 
likely to be abundant each year in one or more localities and often 
over a considerable territory. Scattered nests are to be found usu- 
ally during any spring, although in some seasons these are but 
little in evidence. 
Fic. 2.—Nests of apple-tree tent caterpillar in wild cherry tree which the larve have defoliated. 
(Original.) 
The favorite food of the tent caterpillar is the wild cherry, and 
this is probably its native food plant. Next to the wild cherry the 
apple is apparently preferred. In the absence of its favorite food, 
or under special conditions, it attacks many other plants, as plum, 
peach, thorn, pear, rose, and other members of this group, as also 
beech, witch-hazel, elm, maple, and various species of willows, oaks, 
and poplars. During periods of unusual abundance trees are 
more or less completely defoliated, and at a time when they most 
need the leaves for their growth or for the development of the fruit, 
and they are materially weakened, though rarely killed. 
