30 



FARMERS BULLETIN 



these areas which suffer most. Where the injury is less severe the 

 killed spots may range from 2 or 3 feet in diameter to areas of a 

 square rod or more. After the second year the tendency is for the' 

 smaller spots to become revined, but this is in all cases a slow process. 

 Even a severe infestation seldom is detected until late summer, when 

 the foliage of the injured vines assumes a reddish cast, but in the fall 

 the injured areas are very noticeable with their red and brown leaves 

 and lifeless vines. The folloAving spring most of the leaves will have 

 shattered, leaving areas of naked, dead vines. 



I»ESCKlPTION AND SEASONAL HISTORY. 

 HtREKNATION AND PERIOD OF COCOONING. 



After completing its feeding in the early fall the worm forms a 

 cocoon (fig. 25), composed of bits of trash from the bog floor, some- 

 times largely of pieces of twigs and leaves and sometimes of sand, 

 lined with silk. The cocoon is formed in the trash itself, and, being 

 of the same character as the trash, is very difficult to find. It is not 

 impervious to water and, in fact, becomes full of water within three 

 or four days after the turning on of the winter flowage, but the 

 worm is not injured by such treatment. 



The importance of obtaining the correct date for the period of 

 cocooning can not be overestimated, because upon it depends the 

 success or failure of the fall flooding. In New Jersey the period 

 when the worms make their cocoons begins about the last week in 

 September and is at its height during the first week in October. 



THE MOTH. 



Upon the removal of the winter fiowage in the spring the change 

 from the larva to the pupa occurs within 2 or 3 weeks, and this 

 m turn is followed shortly b\ the emergence of the moth from the 

 cocoon. For example, if the winter fiowage is removed May 10, 



•t. Much fiilaigiHl. 



