g4 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
piles may easily produce thousands of the beetles and, when abund- 
ant, the pests may attack comparatively vigorous trees. 
Apple tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americana 
Fabr.). Numerous complaints were received of the excessive 
abundance of this common pest upon wild and chokecherry trees 
in particular, though its conspicuous nests were rather abundant 
in apple trees here and there. This condition was reported from 
Long Island localities and various places in the Hudson valley, 
from Utica, Herkimer and Rome in the central part of the State, 
and from such Adirondack localities as Glens Falls, Lake George, 
Ausable Forks, Malone, and Ogdensburg. The pests were so 
numerous in southern Rensselaer county as to defoliate most of 
the roadside wild cherry trees and many of the unsprayed apple 
trees, not excepting in some instances almost entire orchards. The 
caterpillars were so abundant that they would frequently strip 
adjacent vegetation before attaining maturity. In some instances 
ropes of silk leading to the nests were to be observed on the 
trunks of the trees. The injury was so great in some places that 
parties feared it would be followed by the death of the trees. 
This is far from the case with both wild cherry and apple, as was 
evidenced by the development of a good second crop of leaves 
subsequently. 
The caterpillars complete their growth the latter part of May 
or early in June, deserting the trees and spinning the familiar 
whitish cocoon in almost any available shelter. The moths fly 
from about the middle of June till the middle of July and deposit 
their dark brown egg belts on the smaller twigs. The eggs usually 
remain unhatched until the following spring. An examination of 
local conditions at Nassau shows that there are an unusually large 
number of eggs upon the trees at the present time, and as a conse- 
quence serious injury is probable another season. This caterpillar 
is easily distinguished from the related forest tent caterpillar by 
the broad, white stripe down the middle of the back and the large, 
silken webs invariably constructed in the forks of the trees. The 
outbreak described above is one of the irregularly periodic oscilla- 
tions of insect life and may continue for another year or two. 
The ravages of this pest are greatly facilitated by farmers gen- 
erally allowing wild cherry trees to grow along roadsides and 
fences. The keeping of the brush cut in all such places would not 
only relieve the adjacent land of an unnecessary drain but prove 
an important factor in controlling this common pest. It is perhaps 
