556 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



in July, and lay the eggs late in July. The eggs are deposited 

 on the leaves in pale yellowish-green patches of 400 to 500, often 

 covered with whitish down from the body of the female, and 

 hatch in about ten days. The young larvae are pale yellowish 

 with brown markings and appear to be almost all head and hair. 

 They at once spin a web over the foliage on which they are feeding, 

 those from one egg mass feeding together and enlarging the web 

 as necessary. In the North the webs arc usually noticed in early 

 August and are started at the tips of the limbs. Within them 



FIG. 406. Meteor us hyphantrice, a common parasite of the fall web worm; 

 a, adult female; b, empty cocoon showing cap and suspending thread 

 enlarged. (After Riley, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



the surfaces of the leaves are eaten off until they are left dry and 

 brown. When all the foliage on a limb has been consumed, the 

 caterpillars leave the web, enclosing the dead leaves, and form a 

 new web on a fresh branch, and thus the tree soon becomes covered 

 with unsightly webs, which are often mingled so that the whole 

 tree is webbed over. The web is easily distinguished from that 

 of the tent caterpillar, as it is found later, and the tent caterpillar 

 makes a relatively small web in the fork of a limb and never 

 encloses foliage in it. The caterpillars become full grown in a 



