REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



201 



The moth expands about ^ of an inch across the wings. The ground colour of the 

 front wings is black, with large patches of rusty red and a central steel blue blotch. 

 Along the costa are seven very conspicuous short white streaks, arranged '2., 2 and 3 

 together, of which the longest are the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th; these streaks are nearly 

 parallel to each other and are obliquely directed toward the posterior angle of the wing. 

 The hind wings are dusky gray at the base, shading into black at the tip. 



The other insects Mhich have attacked fruit trees during the past summer are well 

 known species. Of these none have called for more attention by their excessive numbers 

 than the Tent Caterpillars, which swarmed on forest and orcliard trees in many sections 

 of almost every province of the Dominion. 



Enormous numbers of Tent Caterpillars of the two common species, the Forest Tent 



Caterpillar {ClisiocamiJa disstria, Hbn ), and the American Tent Caterpillar (0. Ameri- 



• cana, Harr.), occurred in the woods and on trees in gardens and 



..<^#; orchards for many miles around Ottawa and through the counties of 



Carleton, Ru'^sell and Grenville ; nor were they confined to this part 



of the province, for specimens or letters of inquiry came in from every 



direction. Aspen poplars, maples and basswood seemed to be the 



favourite food plants, but where the caterpillars were abundant the 



foliage of all plants was eaten. 



"Victoria, B.C., Dec. 15. — On the Lower Mainland the most 

 troublesome pests of the season were the Forest-tree Tent Cater- 

 pillars. They were present in countless thousands and fruit trees in 

 proximity to native trees such as alders and willows, where the pests 

 hatched undisturbed, were in danger of being defoliated, even when 

 considerable attention was devoted to fighting the pests. Fruit trees 

 from which the leaves were eaten, put on foliage again later in the 

 summer, but went into winter in poor condition to withstand vicissi- 

 tudes of weather. Fortunately, by far the larger proportion of the 

 larv£E were parasitized and egg masses of the pests ai'e not nearly so numerous as last 

 year ; besides this, fruit growers were roused as a rule to the danger from these voracious 

 insects and better prepared to fight them both by the destruction of eggs during the 



winter months and by means of Paris green 

 spraying later on." — [R. M. Palmer.] 



When I was in British Columbia last August, 

 Mr. T. A. Sharpe, of Agassiz, drew my atten- 

 tion to the fact that a very large percentage 

 of these caterpillars had been destroyed by a 

 very fatal disease after they had spun their 

 cocoons. He examined one hundred cocoons 

 before he found one con- 

 taining a living pupa. 

 Unff)rtunately no such 



-,. ^, -r^ rr, ^ •,, state of affalrs happened 



Fig. 18. -The Forest Tent Caterpillar : r(, egg . ,, ^,, f,' , 



cluster on twig: h, moth-uatural ^ tlie Ottawa outbreak, 



size ; c, d, eggs— enlarged. for at the present time the 



egg clusters (Figs. 18a and 19) are to be found- abundantly on 

 trees and shrubs in every direction. On one small cherry tree 10 

 feet high, I collected no less than 37 egg clusters. The eggs in 

 every one of them appeared to be in a healthy condition, and the 

 young caterpillars hatched out in thousands in my office. There 

 is the greatest necessity for all who wish to save their trees to take 



steps next season, in the first place, to clear from the trees during ^^^^ i9._Egg duster of 

 the winter such eggs as can be reached, and to provide themselves tlie American Tent 

 with spraying apparatus so as to be ready to destroy the caterpillars Caterpillar. 



Fig. 17. —American 

 Tent Caterpillar. 



