Ill 



day, head either up or down, on the shady side of the trunk, on the 

 underside of branches, under loose bark, in hollows of the trees, 

 under boards, stones, or any suitable shelter on the ground. 



The injury these caterpillars are able to do is shown in the plates 

 given herewith. A very comprehensive account of the work of 

 destroying this insect in Massachusetts is given by Mr. Forbush in 

 the Report of the Gypsy Moth Committee to the Legislature. 



The following descriptions have been prepared and are given here 

 by request : 



The Egg. 



The eggs, plate I, figs. 9 and 10, are nearly globular, about one- 

 eighteenth of an inch in diameter, of a dark salmon color, with a 

 smooth surface ; and are laid in oval or rounded clusters, plate 1, 

 fig. 8, containing from 400 to 500 eggs covered with the yellowish 

 hair from the under side of the abdomen of the female. These 

 clusters of eggs are deposited on the underside of the branches, on 

 the trunks of trees, often below the surface of the ground where it 

 has shrunk away from the tree, on fences, stone walls, the sides of 

 buildings, and in every conceivable place where the female moths 

 happen to be when they are ready to lay their eggs. They are laid 

 about the middle of July, but do not hatch until the following spring 

 in the latter part of April and early in May, though many hatch much 

 later, especially those in sheltered places ; so that there is a succes- 

 sion of young caterpillars through the spring and early summer. 



The Larva. 

 When a caterpillar hatches it is cylindrical, gradually tapering 

 backward from the second segment. The head is smaller than the 

 second segment, pitchy black with a shining surface, and with a few 

 whitish hairs scattered over the surface. The general color of the 

 body is brownish yellow with a dark brownish spot on the subdorsal 

 line, on the forward part of each segment from the fourth to the 

 twelfth inclusive. The thoracic shield on the top of the second seg- 

 ment is long and narrow, and extends across the top of the segment. 

 It is of the same color and texture as the head, and there are num- 

 erous short white hairs arising from behind it, and also from the 

 front edge of the segment. A large tubercle arises from the side of 

 the segment in the lateral line, from which long hairs arise, some of 

 which are nearly half as long as the body. The third to the twelfth 

 segments inclusive have each a tubercle on the subdorsal line, just 



