746 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



North (Figure 6), wliile in many parts of the country, south of the Mason and 

 Dixon line, the troublesome seeds of these noxious plants are abundantly in 

 evidence. No one of the group is better known, either North or South, than 

 our Spanish Needles the brown seed needles of which are pretty thick and 

 always double-pointed. These plants belong to the great Composite family 

 {Compositae), along with a great many others of our most familiar flowers. In 

 the Bidciis genus there is even a Tickseed Sunflower, the seeds of which can 

 stick to one's clothing with just as much tenacity as the seeds of the various spe- 

 cies of Beggar-ticks in thisarray of pestsof the autumn woods {B. trichosperma). 

 Many people have often wondered what the curious, spindle-shaped, little 

 silken alTairs, ornamented with bits of sticks or pine needles are, which are 

 seen hanging from the twigs of many of our city shade trees, as well as from 



not a few of the conifers in the forests, 

 especially the red cedar and the arbor 

 vitae. A good picture of one of these 

 is here given in Figure 8, and it is the 

 common "Bag-worm," a tree-pest of 

 the first order. The larva feeds upon 

 the leaves of many trees and shrubs, 

 but ignores the sedges and grasses, 

 and is most injurious. They can best 

 be destroyed by collecting the cases in 

 bags and baskets and burning them in 

 a bonfire. Several years ago a great 

 many bushels of them were thus col- 

 lected in St. Louis and burned, with 

 decided benefit to the city's shade trees 

 the following sun -ner. The late emi- 

 nent economic entomologist, Prof. 

 Charles Valentine Riley, gives an ex- 

 cellent account of this, with a life his- 



THK Fl.nWFRS riF TIIF SP\\M<;H NFFOLFS 

 ARE S.MALL AND HAVE YELLOW PETALS 

 Fig. 6 One of thr plants tn the eastern part of 

 United States which do not shed all their seeds 

 at once, frequently holding them until winter is 

 about over. .Many of these seeds stick to one's 

 clothing, when one comes in contact with them 

 in passing through places where thev grow and 

 so they are scattered far and -ide The plant is 

 known as Spanish Needle {Bidens bipinnata). As 

 a matter of fact, all of the BiJens group possess 

 this very annoying clinging characteristic. 



as the rays pass through them. These 

 dried plants may sometimes be found 

 in the fields after winter has set in and 

 the ground is covered with an inch or 

 more of snow. They are gentle en- 

 couragers as to the fact that the world 

 has not seen its last summer, for when 

 the joyous month of July comes round 

 again in 1918 we shall still find our 

 old friends, the Virginia Ground 

 Cherries, adding their quota of inter- 

 est and beauty to the flora of our pas- 

 tures and meadow lands, with perhaps 

 a few scattering plants higher up on 

 the hillsides. 



In those parts of the South which 

 we have in mind, many of the smaller animals are in evidence all winter long , 

 while during the same part of the year in the North they hibernate for several 

 months at a time, and are never seen in the woods during the season that Jack 

 Frost holds things in his icy grasp. For example, our beautiful little lizard. 

 the common Swift, disappears just so soon as the really cold weather sets in, 

 and we do not see him again until the bloodroots begin to think of peeping 

 above ground. The male of this species is a beauty, with his glistening azure 

 sides bordered with velvety black, and the bizarre pattern of brown that 

 ornaments his back. From western Texas to Florida, his big cousin of the 

 South (Figure 7), also prettily marked, gets a great deal more out of life than 

 he does ; for in the balmy southern regions he loses not an hour through being 

 compelled to hibernate from early winter to the beginning of spring. He 

 may be seen any day in December or January, in the forests of his range, 

 comfortably sunning himself on some old log. 



The various species of Bidens have practically all shed their seeds in the 



PODS THAT HOLD THE FLAT, WINGED 

 SEEDS OF THE TRUMPET FLOWER 

 Fig. 4 'Long late in the autumn, the lengthy, 

 deep tan-colored seed pods of the Trumpet flovvers 

 are to be seen, dangling from the leafless runners 

 of the vine; from one to several in a_ bunch, 

 quite a few hang onto the vine until winter is 

 past. Tlie ro.. s of seed are separated by the 

 hbrous divis.on shown in the cut, where two 

 winged seeds are seen falling out. 



TREE CUI.TURISTS HAVE GIVEN THE 



"BAG WORM" VERY CLOSE STUDY 

 Fig. 8 A remarkable little moth (ThyridoMeryx 

 efncmeraeformis) ranges from the Great Plains 

 to the Atlantic Ocean, througliout the Appalachian 

 subregion. lis life history is a very strange one, 

 and much has been written upon it. Many shade 

 trees and shrubs are victims of its voracious as 

 well as promiscuous feeding habits; this is its 

 cocoon. 



