114 



THE FOREST TENT CATERPILLAR 



coons upon. They commonly choose the leaves of trees for 

 this purpose. Sometimes a single large leaf will be used, its 

 edges being folded over, as in the case of the cocoons in 

 apple and currant leaves, shown in Figs. 41, 42 and 48, 

 while, at others, several smaller leaves may be deftly drawn 

 together, as in the barberry leaf cocoon shown in Fig, 

 38. If the insect happens to be in a pine tree it will utilize 

 the pine needles for this purpose, and even such delicate 

 structures as the panicles of the smoke bush or fringe tree 

 may serve the purpose. (Fig. 43.) Where the caterpillars are 

 numerous, the foliage of the trees is almost wholly webbed up 

 when the cocoons are made, giving the trees a strange, bunchy 

 appearance. Many of the caterpillars, however, leave the 

 trees, and seek shelter in other situations, such as crevices in 

 the rough bark, beneath boards or stones upon the ground, 

 in the crannies of a fence, along the clapboards or beneath 

 the gables of buildings. 



Wherever the cocoon is spun the caterpillar inside of it soon 

 changes to a pupa or chrysalis — an oval brown object without 



a 



b 



Fig. 44. — Moths of Forest Tent Caterpillar; a, male; b^ female. Natural size. 



legs or wings, able to move only by a feeble wriggle of its body. 

 In this condition it takes no food, but its tissues undergo such 

 remarkable changes that about ten or twelve days after the 

 cocoon is made, a buff-brown moth emerges from the chrysalis 

 and makes its way through one end of the cocoon. This is 

 the adult form of the Forest Tent Caterpillar. The male moths 

 are slightly smaller than the females, as may be seen from 

 Figs. 44 <i and b, the first of which represents the male and the 

 second the female, both natural size. 



The moths generally make their appearance the latter part 



