OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



137 



THE GREEN-STRIPED MAFLE-WORM — Dry ocanip a iAnisota] 



ruhiounda (Fabr.) 



(Orel. Lepidoptera, Fam. Bombycid.e.) 



[Fig. C7.] 





There is a striped worm (Fig. 

 67, «,) which at times very se- 

 riously affects our Soft and Sil- 

 ver maples, but more espe- 

 cially the former, and w^hich 

 was so unprecedentedly abun- 

 dant last year in some of our 

 western counties, and beyond 

 into Kansas, that a brief no- 

 tice will be looked for in this 

 Report. To give some idea of 

 the numbers in which it oc- 

 curred in our sister State, I in- 

 troduce the following letter: 



Dear Sir: We are very much troubled out here in Kansas with 

 worms. You no doubt know some persons who are always afflicted 

 with worms. Those, however, that I wish to ask you about (I mean 

 the worms, not the people,) are those that are eating all the foliage 

 off our shade trees — Soft Maples — they trouble none others. 



About two years ago was the first I noticed; there were not a great 

 many that year, but last year they came in increased numbers, so that 

 many trees were eaten entirely bare, there not being a single leaf left. 

 This year they are appearing Iby the million on the trees in my yard, 

 and in fact on all the Soft Maples in this vicinity. The first you dis- 

 cover will be the eggs laid in clusters on the under side of the leaves, 

 generally near the end of the limbs, on the new growth. They soon 

 hatch and begin to eat, grow and spread over the trees, and when 

 they have entirely stripped the tree they crawl down the body to the 

 ground, under foot, into the houses and elsewhere in search of food. 

 They grow to be about two inches long — great green worms. 



The eggs are evidently laid by some kind of fly. In our city, and 

 in fact in all this country, the Soft Maple, on account of its rapid 

 growth, lias been almost universally set out for shade trees, and this 

 worm-nuisance has come to be a serious question. 



If they are a thing that has come to stay — to appear and reappear 

 year after year — I propose to cut my trees down, and plant something 

 that is worm-proof. You may be conversant with this matter, and 

 able to tell us at once their nature, and whether they are likely to be 

 a permanent pest, and if there is any remedy for the nuisance. Doubt- 

 less they are in other parts of the country, but I have never seen any 

 except in Kansas. If you can tell us anything about the matter, a 

 letter from you would be most gratefully received by 



Your obedient servant, 



HORACE J. SMITH. 



Ottawa, Franklin county, Kansas, June 24, 1872. 



