INSECT ENEMIES. 



109 



Bui the tent caterpillar of spring only preys on a few- 

 kinds of trees, while the later sort are ready to work over 

 a very wide range* They are much smaller, and eat 

 very much longer. The fall web-worm is a caterpillar 

 of the family of Arctians or Tiger moths. The name 

 Hyphantria means a weaver, and is very appropriate and 

 descriptive ; for the first thing they do when hatched is 

 to spin a web on the leaf where they are hatched, under 

 which they eat the pulp of the leaf. Their webs are so 

 closely woven as to hold their excrements as a fine powder. 

 The moth is white, with tawny yellow fore-thighs and 

 dark-colored feet. The antennae of the males are doubly 

 feathered beneath, and those of the female have two rows 

 of teeth on the under side. The expanded wings meas- 



Fig. 91. Larva. Fig. 92. Chrysalis. Fig. 93. Winged Insect. 



FALL WEB-WORM. 



ure about an inch and a quarter across. In repose they 

 are not crossed on the back, but are roofed or sloped 

 down on each side of the body. It only flies at night, 

 when it lays its eggs on leaves near the end of the twigs, 

 during June and July. In the North there is but one 

 brood a year, but in the South there is often a brood in 

 June and another in August. These caterpillars feed on 

 the quince, apple, pear, and a good many other trees and 

 shrubs. They attain their full growth in about three 

 months, when they separate to seek places of conceal- 

 ment, where they pupate in thin and almost transparent 

 cocoons, in which they remain through the winter as 

 chrysalids. The full-grown caterpillar is over an inch 

 long, with a slender body. Their general color is gray, 

 with a tinge of greenish-yellow. Trees defoliated by 



