INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE AND PEAR 543 



ping the foliage toward the base, and are often found clustered 

 together in a solid mass. If the limb is jarred or a caterpillar 

 touched, it at once assumes a position characteristic of this 

 genus, throwing the head and tail in the air with a jerk and 

 clinging to the limb by the abdominal prolegs, as shown in 

 Fig. 475. The wings of the adult moth expand about two 

 inches and are a reddish-brown color, while the head and 

 thorax are chestnut-brown. The fore- wings have three to 

 five transverse lines, one or 3 

 two spots, and the outer 

 margin of a dark color, and 

 the hind-wings are pale yel- 

 lowish without markings. 



Life History. The winter 

 is passed in the pupal stage 

 in the soil, from which the 

 moths emerge from May to 

 July. The round, white eggs 

 are laid on the leaves in 

 masses of 75 to 100, and hatch 

 during mid-summer. The 

 caterpillars feed during the 

 late summer and become full 

 grown in four or five weeks, 



when they enter the earth " .-,, r 



J . FIG. 476. The yellow-necked apple 



for from 2 to 4 inches and caterpillar (Datana ministra Dru.): 

 there transform to naked mature larvae and moth natural size. 



brown pupae, without making any cocoons. There is but one gen- 

 eration in the Northern and Middle States. 



The species occurs throughout the Northern and Middle States 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, and in the far South there seem to 

 be no records of the species. Though most common on apple, it 

 also feeds on pear, cherry, quince, and plum, and on hickory, 

 oak, walnut, chestnut and other shade and forest trees, some- 

 times defoliating them, as do other nearly related species. 



Control. As the work of these caterpillars is soon noticed, 

 and as they habitually feed in colonies, it is an easy matter to 

 hand pick and destroy them, or swab them off the limbs with a 

 rag or waste saturated with kerosene, or where a colony is clus- 



