494 INSECT PFSTS OF FARM. GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



ities in Connecticut.* Appropriations for its control have been 

 increased until now the State of Massachusetts and the Federal 

 Government are each appropriating $300,000 per annum and 

 the total cost of combating it in New England must be con- 

 siderably over a million dollars per year. As it is gradually 

 spreading, there seems every reason to fear that it may ultimately 

 invade other States. 



Life History and Description. The eggs are laid in July and 



August, in a mass of 

 400 to 500, covered 



9^B^^, \f'\^^E?- with yellowish hairs 



from the body of the 

 female. The mass is 

 an irregular ovalshape 

 H 1J by f inches, and 

 is deposited on the 

 bark of trees, but 

 where abundant, on 

 jrijffirPf fences, stones, build-- 

 ings, etc. The eggs 

 0r hatch about May 1, 

 and each mass yields 

 a swarm of young cat- 

 erpillars, the bulk of 

 which become full 



grown by midsummer. 



FIG. 419. The gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar r^i , -n 



Linn.): male above; female below natural size. The mature caterpillar 

 (After Forbush and Fernald.) has a dusky or sooty- 



colored body. Along the back is a double row of five pairs 

 of blue spots, followed by a row of^six pairs of red spots, which 

 readily distinguish this from any other common caterpillar. 

 The full-grown caterpillar is about 3 inches long. Sometime 

 in July or early August it spins a few threads of silk as a sup- 

 port, sheds its skin and changes into a pupa, sometimes enclosed 

 in a thin cocoon, but often hanging pendant from its attach- 



* Connecticut State authorities, in co-operation with the Federal author- 

 ities, have exterminated the insect within that State. 



