104 CANKEK-WOEM. 



the Canker-worm moths, especially as most of them were not bo pro- 

 tected, but that they must have been frequently drenched with cold 

 rain. I could not find that any of them were seriously damaged, but 

 only rendered a little more torpid for the time being. 



March 10. — Rather cold and windy. Mercury at 45 "^ . Yisited the 

 orchard and remained till after six o'clock in the evening. Very few 

 moths moving ; examined the ends of the lower branches of several 

 trees, but did not see more than a dozen moths in all, and these had 

 uniformly stationed themselves in the little crotches formed by the 

 forks of the smaller branches or twigs. 



March 11. — Caught a male flying near my house more than half a 

 mile from the infested orchard, just before dark. Evening calm, mer- 

 cury at 40 "^ . Yisited the orchard after dark with a lantern, and 

 found the trees quite animated again with the ascending moths, many 

 of them in pairs. Many were now seen making their way out upon 

 the limbs of the trees, but seemed generally to stop short of the small 

 branches. 



March 13. — Examined the infested trees with the special view of de- 

 termining where the eggs are deposited. Found many clusters of eggs 

 attached to the under side of loose scales of bark on the trunk and 

 branches ; never close to the ground ; sometimes, but rarely, only a 

 few inches above it, but becoming more numerous towards the upper 

 part of the trunk, and still more so upon the large branches. Found 

 no eggs on the smooth branches or twigs, except where some accidental 

 protection could be obtained. I detected some of the eggs concealed in 

 the tufts of dead leaves produced by the Leaf-crumpler or larva of the 

 Pkycita nebulOf and upon further examination found that in almost 

 every instance these tufts had been made use of by the Canker-worm 

 moth as a depository for her eggs. In some cases the ©pen ends of the 

 last year's cones were found crammed full of eggs. 



At this date I commenced a series of experiments with the view of 

 preventing the ascent of the female moths, by putting around the trees 

 bands of hay, rope and tin, which will be described more fully in the 

 sequel. 



March 15. — Yery warm and showery. Mercury at 70°. Went out 

 to the orchard just as it was getting dark and remained over an hour. 

 I had never seen the moths so abundant. The trunks of the trees 

 were alive with thousands of ascending moths. Indeed, the ascent of 

 the Cauker-worm moths, at the hight of their season, in a badly infested 

 orchard, presents a most curious and animated spectacle. As evening 



