146 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



out, and in a few minutes the new dress is displayed in all its beauty 

 and freshness. The long plumes at the head do not straighten out of 

 their own accord, however, for the caterpillar by a curious curling of 

 the body, while resting on a few of its abdominal prolegs, cunningly 

 brushes them with its tail end, first on one side, then on the other. It 

 furthermore presses them, for the same end, one after the other 

 against any surface on which it is at the time walking, and having once 

 thoroughly straightened out its toilet it rests a few minutes from its ef- 

 forts and then commences to feed with surprising vigor, apparently 

 determined to make up for its two day's fast. 



The male cocoon is white or yellowish, and sufficiently thin to 

 show the insect within it. It is formed of two layers, the outer one 

 having the tufts and plumes which adorned the maker, scattered 

 through it. The female cocoon is twice as large and more solid and 

 dense. 



Soon after completing his cocoon the male changes to a chrysalis, 

 which is represented of the natural size at Figure 81, d. The female, 

 in due time, changes to a very different chrysalis, which is also repre- 

 sented life-size at Figure 81, o. In about two weeks after spinning 

 up, the moths begin to issue. In this state the sexes are still more 

 dissimilar. The male produces a winged moth, which is represented 

 at Figure 83, while the female is furnished with but 

 the merest rudiments of wings, and is destined to 

 simply crawl to the outside of her cocoon, where, after 

 the male has met her, she deposits her eggs, gluing and 

 protecting them with the white frothy matter already 

 described, which, at this time, has every appearance 

 of spittle. She is faithfully represented at Figure 

 1 81, a, and after depositing her eggs, the body greatly 

 contracts and she soon dies. 

 Such is an outline of the natural history of this pretty, but de- 

 structive caterpillar. In our State there are two broods each year, 

 the moths of the first brood appearing during the latter part of May 

 and fore part of June, and those of the second brood in September 

 and October. The periods given for the transformations are average 

 periods, and in further illustration of the difficulty in drawing rigid 

 lines of time, in the development of insects, I will state that from a 

 hundred larvre which hatch out in a single day, some will have pro- 

 duced moths while others are yet feeding in the caterpillar state. 



This insect seems to occur more or less over the whole country, 

 and I have repeatedly received its egg-masses during the past two 

 winters. It is, however, as we might expect from its nature, often 

 conlined like the Canker-worm, to particular orchards in a particular 

 neighborhood. It feeds upon different kinds of trees, such as the 

 elm, maple, horse-chestnut and oak, but it seems to prefer the apple, 

 the plum, the rose and the pear. 



