10 



Augusta were generally infested; the insect had appeared in consider- 

 able numbers on the island of Mount Desert; and had been reported 

 at Eastport. A single finding also had been reported at Providence, 

 R. I., but the insect had not been found in the State of Connecticut. 

 In Massachusetts there had been a wide spread to the southward and 

 a slower spread to the westward, the species having been found as far 

 east as Amherst. Full reports have not been made of the additional 

 spread during 1906, nor will it be possible accurately to make such 

 reports until the leaves fall in the autumn and the winter nests are 

 readily to be seen. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INSECT. 



The eggs. — The eggs of the brown-tail moth are small and globular, 

 and are laid in masses on the underside of leaves in the latter part of 



Fig. 1. — The brown-tail moth {Euproctis chrysorrluza): Fe- 

 male moth above, male moth below, larva or caterpillar 

 at right. Slightly enlarged (original). 



Fig. 2. — Caterpillar of the brown- 

 tail moth. Enlarged (from 

 Fernald and Kirkland). 



July. The Qgg masses are brown in color and are covered with hair, 

 each mass containing about 300 eggs. They are much smaller than 

 the egg-masses of the gipsy moth, with which the}^ are most likely to 

 be confused, and average about two-thirds of an inch in length by 

 about one-fourth of an inch in width. The}^ are thus elongate in form, 

 and are convex. 



The larva or caterpillar. — The full-grown larva (tig. 1 at right; tig. 

 2) is about 2 inches long, reddish brown in color, with a broken white 

 stripe on each side and two red dots on the back near the hind end. It 

 carries also patches of orange and is covered with tubercles bearing 

 long barbed hairs. The tubercles along the back and sides are covered 



264 



