THE LEOPARD MOTH. 5 
everything into consideration, it would seem that the species, while 
distributed along the coast, will, in time, be greatly reduced in this 
region, probably by parasites and other natural enemies, and will 
very gradually spread inland as it is now doing. 
FOOD PLANTS. 
In its Old World home the leopard moth is recorded as living on 
a considerable number of common trees, including elm, lime or lin- 
den, ash, beech, birch, walnut, oak, chestnut, poplar, alder, and, 
rarely, horse-chestnut. Among orchard trees it is reported to injure 
pear, apple, plum, and other fruit trees. 
In the United States it attacks all of these trees and in addition 
practically all of the maples, ash, mountain ash, tulip tree, dogwood, 
aspen, and willows, such shrubs as privet and lilac, and honeysuckle. 
A list of 83 trees and shrubs which this larva has been actually ob- 
served to attack was compiled in 1894; 77 of these were observed in 
the public parks of New York City alone. A later list contains 125 
species and varieties. 
It will be seen by the list of food plants already presented that the 
number could be almost indefinitely extended, particularly in reser- 
vations like Central Park, New York City, and Prospect Park, Brook- 
lyn, where special effort has been made to bring together a great 
variety of trees and shrubs. The insect will attack practically all 
forms of woody plants which are of suitable size for its purpose, with 
the exception of evergreens. 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
In Europe the moths make their first appearance during July and 
August, but in this country they appear as early as May and continue 
issuing from the injured wood until late in September. 
The female ready for egg laying, being particularly heavy, is 
unable to fly very far or very high. She deposits her eggs singly and 
in groups of three to four or more, and as many as 800 eggs laid by 
a single moth have been counted. The eggs are generally inserted 
in crevices in the rough bark of trees. 
The larve hatch in about 10 days, penetrate the wood, frequently 
entering the nearest crotch, but also boring in at other points, and 
burrow tunnels into the heart or pith of twigs and the heartwood of 
the larger branches or trunks. When a larva has grown too large for 
the branch in which it is feeding it crawls out and enters a larger one. 
In a single tree 6 inches in diameter as many as six larve were ob- 
served, any one of which would have been able ultimately to destroy 
the tree if not removed; in fact, six to eight borers to the tree have 
been reported as an average in a badly infested location, and in one 
