tenth of an inch long, of a blackish color, with numerous fine gray 

 hairs on the body. They feed on the young and tender leaves, eating 

 on an average two apiece each day, therefore the young of one pair 

 of moths consume from ten to twelve thousand leaves ; and it is not 

 unconunon to see from six to eight tents on a single tree, the cater- 

 pillars of which destroy more than seventy-five thousand leaves by 

 the time they cease feeding. They do not go out of their tents to 

 eat in damp cold weatiier, but appear to take two meals a day when 

 it is pleasant. As the caterpillars groW, they molt or cast off the old 

 skin which splits along the back. In from thirty-five to forty days 

 after hatching, they reach their full growth, Fig. 5, a and 5., Fig. 6, e. 

 They are then about two inches long and have a black head and body 

 with numerous yellowish hairs over the surface. There is a white 

 stripe along the middle of the back, with minute whitish or yellowish 

 broken and irregular streaks along the sides, and a row of small, 

 transverse, pale blue spots along each side of the back. 



As they crawl about, they spin a continuous thread of silk from a 

 minute fleshy tube, on the lower side of the mouth, which is connected 

 with the silk-producing glands within the body, and by means of this 

 thread they appear to find their way back from the leaves to their 

 tent which is formed by the combined efforts of all the caterpillars in 

 the community. 



After reaching their full growth, about the middle of June, they 

 leave their tents and scatter in all directions, seeking some protected 

 place where they spin their spindle-shaped cocoons of whitish silk 

 intermingled with sulphur-colored powder. Figs. 5, d and 6, b. They 

 change to the pupal state within these cocoons, and remain in them 

 from twenty to twenty-five days. In July the moths emerge and, 

 after mating, the females lay their eggs around the twigs of trees 

 where they remain through the winter and hatch in the early spring, 

 when the buds on the trees begin to open. 



The moths measure from one and a quarter to one and a half inches 

 or more between the tips of their expanded wings. They are of a 

 reddish brown color, the fore wings being tinged with gray on the 

 base and middle, and crossed by two oblique whitish stripes. Fig. 6, 

 a, male, Fig. 7, female. 



REMEDIES. 



Search the trees carefully, when they are bare, for clusters of eggs 

 and when found, cut off the twigs to which they are attached and 

 burn them. 



