86 



THE FOREST TENT CATERPILLAR 



Fig. 



29. Cocoon of Forest Tent Caterpillar in a 

 maple leaf. Natural size. 



extended observations in other localities. Evidently the larvse 

 utilize whatever foliage they find available when the stress of 

 cocoon making is upon them. A correspondent at Haverhill, 

 New Hampshire, reported that she found " pine trees covered 

 with the cocoons of the Forest Tent Caterpillar. The needles 

 were tied together with their silk, and the cocoons inside of 



them." These leaf 

 coverings are of all 

 degrees of perfec- 

 tion from such a 

 well-knit specimen 

 as is shown in Fig. 

 29 to that of a co- 

 coon in which two 

 or three grass blades 

 serve little m ore 

 purpose than that of 

 supporting the silken woof of the cocoon. Two or more 

 cocoons are commonly spun within a single leaf, and trees fre- 

 quently appear " bunched up" from the action of the caterpil- 

 lars. Numerous observations indicate that normally about as 

 many caterpillars spin cocoons in leaves as out, but the pro- 

 portion would be likely to vary with the conditions present in 

 a given locality. 



FOOD PLANTS 



This Forest Tent Caterpillar is a very general feeder, attack- 

 ing many more kinds of plants than does the American Tent 

 Caterpillar. In the various articles which have heretofore been 

 published the following food-plants are recorded : 



Apple Oak 



Ash Peach » 



Beech Plum 



Birch 



Cherry (wild and cultivated) 



Hawthorn 



Hickory 



Linden 



Maple 



Poplar 

 Rose 



Sour Gum 

 Sweet Gum 

 Walnut 



