ATTACKING THE LEAVES. 



55 



FIG. 45. 



strange sort of fruit. If leaves cannot be had for shelter, the 

 cocoons will be found under the bark of trees, in every suit- 

 able crevice or hiding-place in 

 fences, or under logs. In two 

 or three days the enclosed larva 

 changes to a chrysalis of a red- 

 dish-brown color, densely clothed 

 with short pale-yellowish hair, 

 and in the course of two or three 

 weeks the moth appears, which, 

 like the insect last described, 

 No. 20, is nocturnal in its habits, 

 and lives but a few days, when, 

 having provided for the contin- 

 uance of its species, it perishes. 

 Remedies. The egg-clusters 

 should be sought for and de- 

 stroyed during the winter 

 months. When the caterpillars 

 are young, they will drop, sus- 

 pended by a silken thread, in 

 mid -air, if the branch on which 

 they are feeding be suddenly 

 struck ; advantage may be taken 

 of this habit, and by swinging 

 a stick around, the threads may 

 be gathered in with the larvae attached to them. When the 

 caterpillars have become half grown, the trees should be 

 frequently inspected, early in the morning, and the congregated 

 masses crushed and destroyed with a stiff broom or some 

 other equally suitable implement. During the day they are 

 so constantly on the move, that a young tree thoroughly 

 cleansed from them in the morning may be crowded again 

 before evening. To avoid the necessity of constant watch- 

 ing, strips of cotton batting, three or four inches wide, should 

 be tied around the tree about half-way up the trunk ; these 



