SECRETARY'S REPORT. 155 



and white stripes, and with a curious hump rather forward of 

 the middle and the head of a bright red. The thorny prickles 

 are black and disposed in four rows, two quite regularly upon 

 the back, and a shorter irregular one upon each side. The 

 parent moth of which, both sexes, are winged, is of a light 

 brownish color, the wings somewhat darker, with a gray margin. 

 The lappct-moths, whose caterpillars are of a singular, half- 

 round form and of a grayish color, resembling, and so closely 

 adhering to, the bark, as to appear like a mere swelling or pro- 

 tuberance, are sometimes guilty of preying upon the apple, but 

 on account of their scarcity need not be much dreaded. 



A far more terrible and destructive enemy, not only of the 

 apple but of almost every other tree and shrub in the localities 

 where it has established itself, is the canker worm, Anisopteryx 

 vernata, of Peck. It has long been known, and hundreds of 

 remedies, more or less fallible, have been proposed and tested 

 for its extermination. Their failure may be attributed in most 

 cases to the want of a thorough acquaintance with, or a neglect 

 of taking advantage of the habits of the insect. As the period 

 during which the wingless female emerges from the ground and 

 ascends the trees to meet the winged male, and deposit her 

 eggs, extends from the last of September, through the mild 

 ■ndays of winter and the month of March, it is evident that 

 impassable barriers must be kept up during the whole of this 

 time to make the remedy effectual. And as the young larvae, 

 when hatched from the egg, are of totally different form and 

 structure from their parents, the same obstacles will not avail 

 to prevent their ascending the trees and commencing their work 

 of devastation. Accordingly before the first of May the trunks 

 of such trees as have been effectually protected by troughs of 

 oil, collars of tin, or belts of tar, must be thoroughly soaped or 

 washed with the soap or oil from the point occupied by the pro- 

 tector to the ground, to destroy the eggs which have been laid 

 on that portion, the clusters of eggs upon the fences and build- 

 ings in the vicinity removed and burned, and all shrubs or 

 unprotected trees carefully examined or treated with the prepar- 

 ations before recommended. The children can be readily 

 taught to discover and remove the eggs in their leisure hours, 

 and will take a hearty interest in this sanitary measure, espec- 

 ially if a small sum, by way of reward, be offered for an ounca 



