16 



DAMAGE TO PLANTS. 



As just indicated, the damage to trees and shrubs may be very 

 severe. The list of food plants is very extensive. While there seemed 

 at first to be a preference for pear (figs. Y, 8) and apple, the larvae were 

 found to feed also upon the stone fruits, as well as upon the elm, 

 maple, and several species of oak. Of late years there has been a 

 very extensive infestation of scrub oak and of the larger trees of the 

 genus Quercus. In fact the caterpillars feed generall}^ upon all decid- 

 uous trees, on man}" shrubs, and even upon herbage. A list of over 

 80 different food plants was published by Fernald and Kirkland in 



Fig. 8.— Pear trees stript by the brown-tail moth, Winchester, Mass., June 9, 1905. (After Kirklaud.) 



1903. Thousands of fruit trees in the vicinity of Boston have been 

 killed by this insect. Injury to woodlands and forests has not been as 

 severe as that accomplished by the gipsy moth, and coniferous trees 

 do not seem to be attacked, but the damage to oak, maple, and elm in 

 the wooded region has been sufficient to cause the forests to appear 

 brown in June in places, and complete defoliation for a series of three 

 or four years has brought about the death of many trees. Even where 

 the tree survives, its growth has been checked, and there is a timber 

 loss. 



264 



