348 



THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



FIG. 31. 



NATURAL HISTORY. The wingless female moth (Fig. 30, b), and 

 the trim male (Fig. 30, a), with his ample wings, both gray or ash 



color, the female being a little 

 the darker, come forth from the 



ground early in the s P rin s : l 



have ften Seen the males dul " 

 ing warm winter days. The fe- 

 male crawls up the trunks of the apple trees, and after meeting 

 the male, lays her cluster of eggs (Fig. 31, #), often to the num- 

 ber of one hundred. If the female fails for any reason to gain 

 access to the tree, she fastens these egg 

 clusters to any convenient object. I have 

 often seen them in Cambridge, Massachu- 

 setts, fastened to the pickets or boards of 

 fences. After egg-laying these insects soon 

 die. Just as the leaves begin to burst 

 forth, the larvae (Fig. 31, a) begin to come forth. The larvae 

 (Fig. 31, a) vary very much in color. At first they are very 

 dark, with faint, yellowish stripes. When full-grown they are 

 striped with ash color, black, and yellow, and are about one inch 

 in length. These larvae belong to the loopers, or measuring 

 worms, both names referring to their peculiar method of locomo- 

 tion. They do not have the usual number of legs for caterpillars 

 (16), but must be content with only ten. Hence their looping 

 gait. They are also called drop worms, because of the habit of 

 swinging from the tree by a thread when disturbed, or when 

 they desire to go to the ground to pupate. As they are often 

 seen thus suspended, it has been supposed that they frequently 

 swing just for the pleasure of the thing. It may be that some 

 disturbing wind or bird induced this strange maneuver. 



About the middle of June the larvae are full fed, the tree 

 fully denuded of its foliage, and that, too, at the worst possible 

 time, the growing season, when the " worms " make for the ground, 

 some creeping down the trunk, others dropping down by a silken 

 thread spun for the purpose. Upon reaching the ground they 

 burrow to the depth of four or five inches, and in an earthen 

 cocoon change to pupae. The chrysalis is of a light brown color. 



