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in a dense patch, from seventy to one hundred in number ; 

 these are white and round. As soon as hatched, the larvae 

 commence eating the under side of the leaves; but, as they 

 increase in size, they eat the entire leaf, except the midrib. 

 They do not spin a common web, as the tent-caterpillars 

 do; yet are strictly gregarious, eating from one branch or 

 twig until the leaves are all consumed, and then migrating 

 to another 



The most interesting feature of these larvae is during 

 the moulting season, when they all come down upon the 

 trunk of the tree and cling in one body to the bark, assisted 

 in this position by a silken thread passed among them. 

 They remain in this position, without food, usually two 

 days and two nights, when they cast off their old skins and 

 commence crawling up the trunk of the tree to their food, 

 leaving the old empty skins attached to the tree. 



I have observed them on the Hickory, clinging to one 

 of the upper branches, when moulting, instead of coming 

 down ; but this is the case only when the tree is old enough 

 for the branches to become as large as that of a common- 

 sized tree. When suddenly alarmed, they assume a peculiar 

 position, by throwing the head and tail at right angles with 

 the rest of the body, as seen in figure at a, and this is also ob- 

 served when resting. When they become fully grown, their 

 social habits change, and for the first time they separate and 

 wander off alone, before entering the pupa state. They do 

 not appear until mid-summer, and remain until the frost 

 has destroyed the leaves in the fall. They remain in the 

 pupa state, under ground, during the winter, changing 

 to the moth late in summer. Owing to the fact that they 

 eat the entire leaves upon a branch before migrating to 

 another, the tree assumes an unsightly appearance when 

 cultivated for shade or ornament, but upon fruit trees it 

 decreases the vigor, and thereby lessens the value of the 

 fruit. 



They can be easily destroyed during any of the moult- 



