THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 121 



the Baltimore Oriole occasionally pecks at the nests, but does not 

 make a common article of diet of the caterpillars, and the only birds 

 that devour them greedily are the American Cuckoos (Coccysus 

 Americanus and erythropMTialmus). 



THE TENT-CATERPILLAR OF THE FOREST— Clisio camp a syl' 

 vatica, Harr. 



(Lepidoptera, Bombycidte.) 



There is another insect which in all its stages so closely resem- 

 bles the Apple-tree Tent-caterpillar as to be very generally confoun- 

 ded with it. This insect was first described by the great Massachu- 

 setts entomologist, Dr. Harris, and very appropriately named the 

 Tent-Caterpillar of the Forest, the better to distinguish it from the 

 other species which is more common in our orchards. He, however, 

 unqualifiedly states that it lives in communities under a common web 

 or tent; but with this exception gives a very clear and truthful ac- 

 count of it.* It has been quite destructive in many parts of Missouri 

 during the past two summers, and as I have had good opportunities 

 of studying its habits I shall endeavor to dispel the confusion and 

 uncertainty about them which have hitherto existed in the minds of 

 most of our farmers. 



ITS NATURAL HISTORY. 



The egg-mass from which the Tent-caterpillar of the Forest 

 hatches (Fig. 52, a, showing it after the young larvee have escaped) 

 may at once be distinguished from that of the common Tent-caterpil- 

 lar by its being of a uniform diameter, and docked off squarely at 

 each end. It is usually composed of about 400 eggs, the number in 

 five masses which I counted ranging from 3S0 to -416. Each of the eggs 

 composing this mass is of a cream-white color, 0.01 inch long and 0.025 

 inch wide, narrow and rounded at the attached end or base, gradually 

 enlarging towards the top, where it becomes slightly smaller (Fig. 52 

 d), and abruptly terminates with a prominent circular rim on the out- 

 side, and a sunken spot in the centre (c). These eggs are deposited 

 in circles, the female moth stationing herself, for this purpose, in a 

 transverse position across the twig. With abdomen curved she gradu- 

 ally moves as the deposition goes on, and when one circle is com- 



* Inj. Ins. p. 376. 



