CANKER-WORMS. 



There are two different species of insects in Massachusetts known 

 by the name of canker-worm, one of which is the spring canker-worm, 

 (Paleacrita vernata, Peck.) Figs. 1 and 2, and the other is the fall 

 canker-worm (Anisopteryx pometaria Harr.) Figs. 3 and 4. 



Spring Canker-Worm. 



U.Male moth; 6, female moth, natural size ; c, joints of her antennae; 

 ;il)domen showing the spines ; e, her ovipositor, enlarged. — After Riley. 



joint of her 



The spring canker-worms emerge from the ground as soon as the 

 snow is gone or even earlier in the spring. The wingless females, 

 Fig. 1, 6, crawl up the trunks of trees most actively in the evening 

 when they pair with the males, Fig. 1 , a, which are flying about at 

 that time. The females then crawl out upon the branches and 

 deposit their eggs in irregular clusters, in the crevices or under loose 

 pieces of bark, by means of the long ovipositor, Fig. 1, e. 



Fig. 2. Spring Canker-Worm. 



a. Full-grown larva; b, egg, enlarged, the natural size shown in the small mass at one 

 side ; c, an enlarged joint, side view ; d, the same, back view, showing the markings.— 

 After Riley. 



The eggs, Fig. 2, 6, natural size and enlarged, are oval in outline, 

 about one-thirtieth of an inch long, of a delicate pearly yellowish 

 color, and hatch about the time the leaves burst from the buds. 



The larvae or young caterpillars have three pairs of true legs, 

 situated on the three segments following the head, and two pairs of 

 abdominal legs, and therefore move by alternately looping and 

 extending their bodies, and are known as loop-worms, inch-worms, 

 or measuring- worms. When fully grown they are from seven-tenths 



