THE WINTER NESTS 5 1 



characterized by having a very dense and firm mass of silken 

 web woven so tightly that it is difficult to pull it apart, with a 

 few leaves attached more or less loosely to the outside. On 

 being cut open it is seen that each nest contains many small 

 cavities in which the young caterpillars are resting. The fol- 

 lowing notes on the nests illustrated may help to an understand- 

 ing of what to look for : 



The winter nest shown on the inside cover page was taken 

 from a cultivated cherry tree near Hampton Beach. It was 

 four and one half inches long by three inches wide, having 

 comparatively few loose leaves, and an unusual amount of 

 dense grayish silk showing on the outside. There were 305 

 small caterpillars in it. 



The nest illustrated on page ^2 was taken from a wild 

 cherry shrub. The nest is five inches long by two inches wide 

 where the dried leaves project. It is composed of a whitish 

 silk web by means of which the leaf stems are firmly attached 

 to the twig and nearly a dozen dried brown leaves from which 

 the upper green surface had been eaten by the young caterpil- 

 lars. It contained 261 caterpillars. 



Rather a small nest of characteristic appearance is shown 

 on page ^3. It was taken from a wild cherry shrub, and 

 measured 3^ inches long by 2f inches wide. It had compara- 

 tively few loose leaves, and the supporting twigs were very 

 thoroughly covered with silk. The web contained 137 young 

 caterpillars. 



An unusual form of winter web is illustrated on page 54. 

 The young colony was situated at the end of a thrifty twig of 

 plum tree in the nursery row, the twig having leaves of un- 

 usual length. Four or five of the leaves at the end were 

 firmly attached to the branch by silken wrappings, and the 

 green surfaces of the leaves were then bent over to form the 

 framework of the winter nest, the outer dimensions of which 

 were 2,j4 by 2}^ inches. It contained 182 caterpillars. 



The nest illustrated on the title page of this Bulletin serves 

 to show very well the way in which the leaf stems are bound 

 to the twig so that they cannot fall ofi during the winter. It 

 is rather unusual that so many difierent fastenings should be 

 made as in this case. 



