44 Farmers’ Bulletin 1270. 
The pupa measures about an inch in length and is of a dark brown color. 
The moths emerge during midsummer and deposit the overwintering eggs, 
there being but one brood of caterpillars each year. The extended wing 
of the male moth measure about 13 inches from tip to tip, are light brown, 
and crossed with four irregular, dark lines (fig. 83). The female (fig. 84) is 
somewhat larger and is unable to fly. Its wings are whitish with dark lines 
on the forewings as in the male moth. 
Orchardists can reduce the infestation to a considerable extent by examining 
their trees and surrounding fences for the egg masses during the winter and 
treating them with crude coal-tar creosote, to which should be added a small 
quantity of lampblack to serve as a marker. The trees should also be sprayed 
wus soon as the leaves are large enough to take an application of poison. Since 
the gipsy-moth caterpillars are quite resistant to arsenical poisons, it is neces- 
sary to use 8 or 4 pounds of the arsenate of lead powder, or double this amount 
of the paste, to each 50 gallons of water or fungicide, and this strength is effee- 
tive only during the very early season, when the larve are young. 
BROWN-TAIL MOTH.” 
Barly in the’ spring, as the leaves are pushing out, the small larve of the 
brown-tail moth emerge from their winter nests and attack the foliage. 
Somewhat later in the spring they also feed upon the blossoms (fig. 85). When 
abundant they defoliate the trees more or less completely. The insect occurs 
rather generally over the New England States and extends into Canada. While 
hot now especially destructive, it has in recent years been a pest of importance - 
and may reappear in destructive numbers at any time. The brown-tail moth is 
a hative of Europe and is thought to have gained entrance into this country about 
1890 or a few years later. The apple is one of its favorite food plants, as is also 
the pear, but it is preeminently an enemy of shade and forest trees, except conifers. 
The insects winter as very small caterpillars in tough silken nests composed 
of partly skeletonized leaves, securely webbed together (fig. 86). With the 
approach of warm weather the caterpillars emerge from their winter nests to 
attack the developing foliage. They continue feeding until early summer, when 
they become full grown, and spin very light cocoons, frequently in a leaf or 
amongst trash near the trees. The full-grown larva is about 14 inches long and 
dark brown to black. The body is covered with reddish brown hairs and on each 
side is a row of white tufts, with two bright red tubercles near the posterior 
end of the body. The larve transform into dark brown pup about three- 
quarters of an inch in length and later the adults or moths appear. The adults 
(fig. 87) have white wings which expand about 14 inches. The abdomen is 
tipped with a tuft of brown hairs, more noticeable in the female than in the 
male, which gives the insect its common name. The globular eggs are deposited 
on the underside of the terminal leaves, in clusters of from 100 to 300 eggs, the 
entire mass being covered with brownish hairs from the abdomen of the female. 
The eggs hatch in the latter part of summer and the young larve feed upon 
leaves for a time and later construct their winter nestS on the terminal twigs, 
often quite conspicuous during winter (fig. 88). In figure 89 is shown a nest 
attached to apples. 
There are two principal means of protecting trees from the ravages of the 
brown-tail moth. The first is to Spray the trees, just as the larve are hatching, 
with arsenate of lead at the rate of 2 pounds of the powder or 4 pounds of the 
paste to each 50 gallons of water or fungicide. Particular attention should be 
given to applying the poison to the tips of all the branches, since the cater- 
*’ Buproctis chrysorrheea Linnaeus, 
