THE BAGWORM. 3 
but is found farther to the north, and there are indications that it 
has gradually spread into this territory from more southern regions. 
The map (fig. 3) which shows the region in which injury by the 
bagworm has been reported up to the year 1907 by black areas, and 
again during the two years 1913 and 1914 by shaded areas, as authen- 
ticated by the files of the Bureau of Entomology, may indicate that 
the species tends to spread toward the south and west. This apparent 
tendency, however, may be due merely to the planting of more 
trees in the more thickly populated towns and cities in such States as 
Oklahoma. 
FOOD PLANTS. 
The bagworm, although a very general feeder, displays a par- 
ticular fondness for evergreens of all kinds, especially for arbor- 
ND. 
IND. io 
i 
po 
\ 
\ 
ALA. \ GA 
' \ 
LA 
' 
' 
' 
! 
a 1 ‘ 
x 1 
' 
' 
' 
=" 
H 
DBIAWFAH4 
Fic. 3.—Map showing, by black areas, localities in which injury by the bagworm has 
been reported up to 1907 and, by shaded areas, those in which injury was reported 
in 1913 and 1914. (Original.) 
vite (fig. 4); hence it seems probable that one or the other of 
these was its original or normal food plant. The species becomes 
exceedingly abundant every few years, and at such times it may be 
found on shade, orchard, and forest trees of nearly every kind. It 
is fond of willows and maples, particularly the silver maple and its 
_varieties and the related boxelder; it is also fond of the poplars and 
mulberry, less so of the elms, and apparently still less so of the oaks. 
It feeds more or less freely, however, on most other trees and shrubs, 
and even on many low-growing semiwoody plants, such as elder, 
_mallow (Hibiscus), and ragweed.t' Thus in the absence of its choice 
food plants it is able to subsist on the foliage of almost any of the 
1 Ambrosia trifida. 
