

 Fig. S. — Red-humped apple-tree caterpillar. 



124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



angles to its middle, assuming a very characteristic attitude. 

 After feeding till full grown, the caterpillars enter the ground 

 and pupate, the moths appearing the following summer. 

 In some cases another kind of caterpillar having similar 



habits, and known as the 

 red-humped apple-tree cat- 

 erpillar (Schizura concinna 

 S. & A.), is met with, also 

 feeding in clusters. Of 

 this, too, there is but one 

 brood a year, the moths 

 flying in midsummer. 



Such caterpillars as these cause much more apprehension 

 than is necessary. Their habit of feeding in clusters makes 

 it easy to remove them by hand; or if for any reason this is 

 impossible, spraying the portion of the tree they are on with 

 arsenate of lead will quickly destroy them. But the size of 

 the clusters and the rapidity with which they will strip a limb 

 are often the cause of much anxiety 

 to fruit growers who are not familiar 

 with them. 



One of our abundant apple pests 

 is the bud moth (Spilonota ocellana 

 Schiff.)- Though its work is gener- F ig. 9. — Moth""of red-humped 



ally little noticed, it blighted about apple-tree caterpillar. 



10 per cent of the fruit buds at Amherst last spring, besides 

 many of the leaf buds, thus causing a large reduction of the 

 crop, which was almost entirely unappreciated, the blossoms 

 failing to develop. 



The tiny moths of this insect measure less than an inch 

 across the expanded wings. They appear in June and July, 

 and lay their eggs on the leaves, generally singly. About a 

 week later the eggs hatch, and the little caterpillars attack the 

 leaves they are on, feeding on the epidermis of one side and 

 the inside cells only, leaving the veins and other surface entire. 

 Each caterpillar also forms for itself a little tube of silk, usually 

 along the midrib of the leaf, and uses this as its home, leaving 

 it to feed, but returning to it when disturbed. As the cater- 

 pillar grows, this tube is enlarged till it may become nearly an 

 inch long. 



