THE FORHST TENT CATERPILLAR 



BY CLARENCE M. WEED 



'1 lie outbreak of the Forest Tent 

 Caterpillar in New Hampshire in 

 1899 was more widespread and seri- 

 ous than durino^ any previous year 

 of which we have record. A very 

 great amount of damage was done to 

 maple sugar orchards, shade trees, 

 and apple orchards, as well as to 

 the general forest growth ; and eggs 

 were laid for a 1900 brood of worms, 

 which, in many localities, at least, 

 threatens to be equally destructive. 

 The present bulletin is issued to 

 furnish the people of the state with the latest available infor- 

 mation regarding the pest, both as to its habits and life his- 

 tory, and as to the means of combating it. In the bulletin I 

 have embodied the results of the observations made last sea- 

 son by myself and my assistant, Mr. W. F. Fiske, as well as 

 several valuable observations kindly communicated to me by 

 Miss Caroline G. Soule, who studied the insect at Brandon, 

 Vermont, and the notes of more than one hundred correspond- 

 ents who kindly replied to a circular letter I sent out. A few 

 of the paragraphs are reprinted without important change from 

 Bulletin 64, issued a year ago. 



FiG.3S.-Cocoon in Barberry Leaves. 



DISTRIBUTION IN 1 899 



The localities in which these caterpillars were destructive 

 last season are indicated in the map on the inside front cover 

 of this bulletin. The circles with a cross inside indicate places 



