112 STATE POMOLOGICAI. SOCIETY. . 



several times during their larval period, the molts are blown 

 about, widely scattering the barbed hairs. Thus in infested dis- 

 tricts it IS no uncommon occurrence for whole families to suffer 

 from the rash caused by the hairs which settle upon clothes hung 

 out to dry. Children gathering cherries are badly "poisoned," 

 and near Everett, Massachusetts, people have been obliged to 

 leave their homes for uninfested places in order to recover from 

 attacks of the "caterpillar itcn." 



The caterpillars are usually full grown in June. They then 

 spin loose cocoons attached commonly to leaves, though some- 

 times other shelter is sought. From the first to the twentieth of 

 July the moths with pure white wings and brown-tipped abdo- 

 mens emerge from these cocoons to deposit eggs for the next 

 generation of troublesome caterpillars. 



MANNER OE DISTRIBUTION. 



New localities may become infested in various ways. When 

 startled the caterpillars have a habit of letting themselves down 

 from the branch and hanging by a frail silken thread. They 

 may so swing against the clothing of a person, or drop upon a 

 passing car or wagon and be carried long distances. Egg-laden 

 moths may be attracted to the lights in trains and electric cars 

 and be borne into uninfested localities before they flutter off to 

 deposit their eggs. In New Hampshire the new localities were 

 generally found along the lines of cars coming from badly 

 infested regions.''' 



''A reliable observer, Mr. A. M. Cobb, Maiden, Mass., reports 

 that when the Bangor boat of the Eastern Steamship Line was 

 passing some miles off Marblehead, early in July ( 1904) a large 

 swarm of the brown-tail moths came aboard and completely 

 covered parts of the vessel." ** 



About the middle of July, 1904, the morning after a strong 

 southwesterly wind, the telegraph poles and the sides of some of 

 the buildings near the Kittery Navy Yards were reported to be 

 white with the white-winged brown-tail moths. The town was 

 alarmed and great numbers of the moths were washed down with 

 hose and destroyed, but that many escaped and deposited eggs, 



* N. H. College Agr. Kxp. Sta. Bui. 107. p. 59. 

 **Ma88. Crop Report, Vol. 17, No. 3, p. 38. 



