42 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 239 



first half c.f .h.ne and are active till toward its end. Where the winter water 

 is held till late May tliev emerge mostly in late June and fly into July. They 

 are noticeably protandrous in emerging. The males fly freely, often swarming 

 in clouds oyer badly infested areas; but the females, heavy with eggs, can 

 only flop along the ground. 



The female (Plate Three, fig. 5) is a finely sprinkled grayish or yellowish 

 brown The wings have vague and variable brown and whitish markings and 

 the hind ones much yellow also on their upper surfaces, and are mostly yellow 

 or yellow and white underneath with liberal general sprinklings of brown. 

 Thev all on both their upper and lower surfaces usually have two or three 

 pooriv defined and often more or less broken brown markings runnmg from 

 the front to the hind n.argin. The back, especially between the bases of the 

 wings, is mostly dingy brown and the scales on the under side of the body and 

 on tlie legs are mainly pale yellow. The antennae are threadlike. Ihe wmgs 

 spread nearly an inch. 



The male (Plate Three, fig. 6) spreads somewhat over an inch. The body 

 and head above and the large bushy antennae are dingy brown with a spnnk- 

 ling of pale yellow. Underneath, the body, head and legs are clothed mostly 

 with light yellow hair and scales. The front wings are coffee brown above 

 with two or three indefinite and irregular darker brown markmgs runnmg 

 Trom the front to the hind margin of each and often with touches of white. 

 The bind wings are mostly deep yellow above with a strong general spnnkhng 

 ani "ee rather vague cross markings of brown and with the outer border 

 ^^ownish Beneath, the wings are deep yellow with a general sprmkbng and 

 usually two irregular cross markings of brown. 



The Eq(j. 



The female moths lay about three hundred eggs each. They thoroughly hide 



V a of them among the litter on the bog floor, mostly in irregular clus- 



"^f^jl^Tr^ as twenty (fig- 31). The eggs are elliptical and 



alout 1 t^n v.seventh of 'an inch long. They are light green at first but turn 



eZl If th; winter flood has been let off early they usually begin to hatch 



"about July 1, but sometimes in advanced seasons by June -0. 



The Worm. 



, t ,,rlv .t,..es H,e worm is rather light bro.„ with « .hitish stripe along 

 ea^i; "<,::«, to:i:e':io„g the ,„iddle o, the hae. The latter tends to per- 

 3,, ,„ .eeomes ohscure as .-th proeee s ^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ 



The mature worm (Hate ihree, ngs. - , 

 „„ i„e„ long and is grayisl, 7-. ^^'^n^^ ; , tr'inthnite n„rk- 

 heing lighter than the hack f "^ ."'V of en r ns atong eaeh side just below 



,„,. Of <'f "riiirairr^::;':^™:: 'r,::rtith aar. „.,wn. The 

 r sS:r;'::r'ir:;it:rrr:iL^;?'::-d ..th dar^r hrow. 



'":: :':rr,.at„re m ,ate .„U- and early Augnst and ehange into the pnpae 



that pass the winter. 



