WHITE-MAKKED TUSSOCK-MOTH. 16 



limbs, and can therefore be easily seen and removed. Every or- 

 chardist and nurseryman should look over his trees in the course 

 of the winter or early spring, and remove all the tufts of web or 

 crurajiled leaves which he may find adhering to their branches. 

 In this way he will save himself from much loss, and also a great 

 deal of labor in the subsequent and more busy seasons. He will 

 thus remove at least two kinds of insects which are liable to be- 

 come quite troublesome : the Tussock-moth caterpillar, now under 

 consideration, and the Leaf-crumpler, often found disfiguring our 

 apple and plum trees, and which is the larva of the Phycita neh- 

 vlo. If this be neglected, the only way to get rid of them in the 

 summer time, is to shake them from the trees. The foliage might 

 also be made distasteful to them, by dusting it with lime when the 

 dew is on. 



Dr. Hull, of Alton, who has had much experience in the treat- 

 ment of noxious insects, informs me that he has found the lime a 

 very eflective remedy, especially for the Leaf-crumpler. Indeed, 

 the lime-dusting process is a sort of panacea, with the doctor, for 

 destroying many of the foliage insects by which horticulturists are 

 molested. 



Another reason why the Tussock-moth larva has not been so 

 destructive as many others, is that it is extremely subject to the 

 attacks of parasites. Dr. Fitch describes two kinds of Chalcides 

 which infest it, and Mr. Riley says he knows of seven others. 

 And I have myself witnessed, this season, the most wholesale de- 

 struction of this insect, by parasites, that I have ever known in 

 the case of any species. On the second of September my atten- 

 tion was called to an orchard a few miles from my residence, in 

 which all the trees in one corner of the inclosure, to the number 

 of fifteen or more, had been entirely stripped of their foliage by 

 these caterpillars, whilst they were at the same time well loaded 

 with fruit. The remaining trees, at least four times the number, 

 were scarcely touched, illustrating, in a remarkable manner, the 

 local restriction of the species. They had nearly all inclosed 

 themselves in their cocoons, and were attached everywhere : on 

 the twigs, branches and trunks, lying in masses in the crotches, 

 and even on the sides of the trunk wherever there happened to 

 be a little depression. In these cases, a number of cocoons, lying 

 side by side, would sometimes have a sheet of web spread iu com- 



