REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 65 



abdominal extremity with the help of some threads. Soon occurs the definite 

 moulting by which the larval skin is discarded for the narrow swaddling clothes 

 of the pupa. Fifteen days later (August 20th — September loth) emerges a 

 beautiful butterfly which winters in the adult state snugly under some shelter. 

 In the first fine days of spring the butterfly takes to flight, and deposits its eggs 

 in long slender plates on the small branches of the elm, willow and poplar. 



The White Diarked Tussock Caterpillar. (Hemerocampa leucostigma). 



During the last few years the poplars, willows and climbers in many parts 

 of the province and particularly in the cities cf Quebec and Montreal have been 

 defoliated by this caterpillar. It gets its name from the four whitish, hairy and 

 thick-set tufts on its back. In other respects it is richly adorned with dark 

 yellow stripes along its surface, with a red head and with two black plumes at the 

 front and one at the rear; it is a very pretty creature. August is usually the 

 period of larval activity, and it devours quickly all the leaves of a tree. The 

 yellowish cocoon is attached to the bark of the trunk and branches. The wing- 

 less female does not depart ver}' far from the cocoon but attaches herself closely 

 to it, its mission being to lay its eggs on this silk}- mass. The eggs are covered 

 by a white, frothy substance which hardens on exposure to the air and becomes 

 a very effective protector. The male is a beautiful moth with sjperb wings and 

 strongly pectinated antennae. This species belongs to thi, Liparidse family of the 

 Lepidoptera. 



So much for the first group. We shall now examine some wood-eating types 

 that bore into wood or between the bark and the weed. The makers of tunnels 

 under the bark are the worst enemies of trees, and for that reason they have been 

 named "ravageurs" or Borers. From the physiological and commercial stand- 

 point the damage done by these insects are often irremediable. 



If the gnawing larvae in any one tree be at all numerous the galleries or tun- 

 nels increase and intercross on the entire periphery of the woody cylinder. Their 

 complex system interferes with the movement of sap in the tree and especially 

 with the downward movement of the elaborated sap which cannot pass below 

 the injured region. 



The Sugar Maple Borer (Plagionotus speciosus). 



This is a beautiful beetle belonging to the Cerambycidae family of the 

 Coleoptera. The body of the adult is marked with different designs in yellow. 

 The eggs are deposited in the bark of the maple, and several days later a pale 

 larva, without feet, hatches out and makes its way towards the sap- wood boring 

 its way hke a gimlet. Here it digs a canal which keeps enlarging with the deve- 

 lopment of the larva which takes two years. Now at its full development the 

 larva digs out a chamber for the pupa at the approach of winter close to the corky 

 tissue. The following summer the newly hatched adult has only to break 

 through the thin covering of bark to get free. It is seldom that we find more; 

 than two larvae working at the same time on the same tree. Since the tunnels, 

 are horizontal for only about one half to two-thirds of their entire length with 

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