So 



Plants Attacked and Nature of Damage. Lackey Moth 

 caterpillars feed on the foliage of many kinds of trees and 

 shrubs including apple, cherry, plum, and pear among fruits, 

 and oak, hawthorn, willow, alder, elm and rose among forest 

 trees and shrubs. As the caterpillars live and feed together for 

 the greater part of their lives their work of destruction is very 

 thorough and every leaf on the branches attacked is often 

 completely devoured. Naturally, if there are several colonies 

 on one tree the foliage is wiped out, the fruit in consequence 

 cannot mature, and in addition to the loss of the current 

 year's crop the health oi the tree is so prejudiced that a crop 

 the following season is also unlikely. 



Description and Life-History. Lackey Moths come out 

 of their chrysalides at the end of July arid may be found from 

 August to September. They are brown moths one-and-a- 

 quarter to one-and-a-half inches in spread of wings, and of 

 the general shape shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The exact shade of 

 brown varies greatly, some moths being quite light- almost 

 yellow-brown and others a rusty red-brown, with all inter- 

 mediate shades. On each of the front pair of wings are two 

 light bars and the space between them is usually darker than 

 the general ground colour. As regards habits, the moths 

 fly only at night and the males (Fig. 6) are strongly attracted 

 by light, sometimes coming in numbers to lighted rooms or 

 to street lamps. The females (Fig. 7) are more sluggish. 

 After pairing, they lay their eggs on the twigs of the various 

 trees on which the caterpillars feed. TRe eggs (Fig. 1) are laid 

 together in a ring, a quarter to half an inch wide, which com- 

 pletely encircles the twig, the whole comprising a hundred to 

 two hundred eggs. These eggs are grey-brown in colour and 

 the mass is sufficiently large to be seen easily. The moths 

 die in September or earlier and the eggs remain throughout 

 the winter and hatch about the end of April. 



The little caterpillars when first hatched are tiny, dark- 

 coloured, hairy creatures, but they soon develop a colora- 

 tion which becomes more brilliant as they grow. Their 

 .general appearance is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and their colora- 

 tion is roughly as follows: The ground colour is blue-grey: 

 down the middle of the back is a white line, on each side of 

 which are two broad orange-red stripes divided by a black line. 

 Then, lower down the sides is a blue stripe, followed again by 

 a third orange-red stripe (or a series of orange-red spots), 

 while the whole insect, except the head, is clothed in reddish 

 brown hairs. All markings are narrowly outlined in black. 



In habits Lackey caterpillars are gregarious and live in 

 company for the greater part of their lives. When newly 

 hatched they spin between two or throe loaves a small silken 

 web a.nd as they grow they build larger nests by spinning to- 

 gether twigs and branches in a thick web of silk (Fig. 2). A 



