134 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FRUIT. 



of an old flour barrel were put into the box, lying one on the other; they are now all 

 tied together firmly. 



Avg, 23. I have to-day been examining my various hay-rope traps that were 

 applied on the 14th of last month. I find that they should have been attended to 

 sooner. About one in five of the worms have gone through their transformation and 

 become Moths, leaving only the empty pupa case. Ninety-seven had taken refuge 

 under one of these hay-ropes on an Apple tree (PI. 1 1) ; forty-two under another; 

 twenty-seven under another, and six under one that had been applied to a single 

 branch of a tree. When three coils were made of this rope the worms were mostly 

 found between the first and second coil, counting from the ground. They do not 

 secrete themselves in the hay, but under it. If there are scales of bark on the tree, 

 some use them also as an additional covering ; but most of these had dug out little 

 excavations, saucer-shaped cavities, in the bark, round the edges of which they had 

 made their silken cocoons, and this cocoon lies in the dark protected space between 

 the little concavity and the hay-rope, bound to the bark on one side, but not usually 

 having any connexion with the hay on the other. This contrivance seems peculiarly 

 attractive to these worms. The tree was large, and old enough to have the body well 

 covered with scales of bark, under which they usually conceal themselves; but upon 

 a careful examination only one could be found either above or below that was not 

 immediately under the rope. These experiments so far are satisfactory. Leather, 

 old clothes, and pieces of carpet, are all found to be attractive also, but in every 

 instance where I have used either of these I have found more cocoons outside of them 

 than where the hay has been applied. If the hay-rope will catch ninety-seven out of 

 ninety-eight that take to the trees, it will prove an effectual way of getting rid of this 

 most formidable enemy; and it is hardly possible to find any other material so cheap 

 or so easy of application. In examining the trap, all that is necessary is to slip it up 

 the body of the tree a few inches, and all the little cocoons, with the worms inside of 

 them, are so perfectly exposed that nothing remains to be done but to crush them 

 with the palm of the hand, either with or without gloves; then push the rope back 

 again to the same place, or lower if necessary to make it as tight as it will well bear 

 without breaking. One rope will last the season if carefully managed. 



Pupa cases of the White Moth were found here. In opening one a swarm of 

 two or three hundred little Ichneumon Flies came out. Others full of the maggots 

 of these little parasites were found. These correspond in size and appearance to 

 the Mitrogaster of Entomologists. They have all the characteristics of the Ich- 

 neumon class ; the four wings, long, restless antennae, and the constant motion. How 



