SF FRUIT TREES. 99 



CATERPILLAR. WEB-WORM. PHAL^NA NEUSTRIA. 



These vermin are so truly disgusting in their nature 

 and appearance, and so injurious by their devasta- 

 tions, that every farmer should consider it disgraceful 

 to suffer his orchard to be infested by them ; yet it is 

 not uncommon to see numerous branches of valuable 

 fruit trees entwined with nests, filled with these in- 

 dustrious reptiles, by which the foliage and fruit are 

 destroyed. During an excursion this season, I have 

 witnessed the disgustful sight of more than twenty 

 large caterpillars' nests on a single tree, and almost ev- 

 ery green leaf devoured. It would consist more with 

 the interest and credit of the proprietor, were such 

 neglected trees no longer permitted to encumber the 

 ground. 



The eggs from which caterpillars are produced, are 

 attached in clusters to the small twigs by a brownish 

 coloured miller, in the month of August, and are se- 

 curely covered with a gummy substance, unsuscepti- 

 ble of injury by the weather during winter. The 

 young brood is hatched by the warmth of the sun, just 

 in time to prey upon the fresh leaves as they appear 

 in the spring. The numerous family from each clus- 

 ter of eggs, immediately unite in the labour of con- 

 structing a nest of strong web, which affords them a 

 shelter from the inclemency of the weather, and a se- 

 cure retreat from the dews at night. They continue 

 to feed upon the leaves until about the last of June, 

 when they abandon their habitation, and stroll to 

 some dry, secure place, where they envelop themselves 

 in a close covering of an egg-shaped, roundish ball, 

 very similar to the cocoon of the silk worm. In this 

 chrysalis state, they continue a few weeks, and in the 

 month of August they burst forth in the form of a 

 brownish coloured miller, the female of which soon 

 wings her way to the apple trees, and deposits her 



