INSECTS ATTACKING SHADE-TREES. 



101 



GREEN-STRIPED MAPLE -WORM. 

 (Anisota rubicunda Fabr.; Order, Lepidoptera.) 



Diagnosis. Attacking the maple; a naked caterpillar, about 

 IjV inches long, pale yellowish-green, longitudinally striped with 

 lighter and darker green lines, two small, black horns on body 

 behind the head; noticeable on the sidewalks. 



Description and Life-history. The adult insect is a beautiful, 

 rosy- white moth, with wings expanding from H to 2 inches. 

 The eggs are laid in groups of 30 or more, on the under side 

 of maple leaves, about the last of May. The larvae or worms 

 immediately on hatching be- 

 gin their attacks on the ma- 

 ple's foliage, and feed about 

 one month before becoming 

 full-grown. They descend into 

 the ground to pupate, and 

 the adults appear in from 10 

 to 14 days. The insect is two- 

 brooded, the first brood of 

 worms appearing mostly in 

 June, and the second late in 

 July and early in August. 

 The worms of the second brood 

 are much more abundant than 

 those of the first, and, conse- 

 quently, the second brood is much more destructive. The larvae 

 enter the ground and pupate about September 1st. The chrysa- 

 lids of this brood pass the winter in the ground, the moths emerg- 

 ing the following May. 



Remedies. Several insect parasites attack the Maple-worm, 

 much to the advantage of the maple tree. Several species of 

 birds eagerly devour them also. 



Spraying with London purple (see p. 8) or Paris green (see 

 p. 7) early in the season, soon after the worms appear, will prove 

 effective. 



The worms when about to leave the trees may also be entrapped by 

 digging a trench either around the individual tree or around a grove or 

 belt. The trench should be at least a foot deep, with the outer wall 



FIG. 56. GREEN-STRIPED MAPLE -WORM; 

 a, adult; &, larva. 



