THE TENT CATERPILLAR 



Fig. 1604. — The Test-Caterpillar. 



^HE orchardist who suffers se- 

 verely from the apple-tree 

 tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa 

 americana) must, without a 

 hearing, be condemned as careless. 

 Many did so suffer last year and the un- 

 sightly nests of the caterpillars were all 

 too common in otherwise well-kept orch- 

 ards ; yet this pest is almost the easiest 

 to combat of all the fruit-grower's ene- 

 mies. It may be quite readily located 

 and destroyed while in the egg, the tents 

 are conspicuous and quickly burned, 

 the young caterpillars yield speedily to 

 arsenicals and the white cocoons plainly 

 show themselves for destruction on the 

 sides of buildings, on fences and on rub- 

 bish, where they are usually placed. 



The effect of the nests in marring the 

 beauty of the orchard should be suffi- 

 cient reason for proceeding vigorously 

 against this enemy ; but a more influen- 

 tial motive lies in the voracious feeding 

 habits of the larvae. The caterpillars in 

 a nest of ordinary size will consume 

 2,500 apple leaves in a week j and as 

 they feed for five or six weeks, those 

 from two or three nests may almost 

 completely strip a tree of its foliage and 



greatly lower its vitality. They seem to 

 prefer the taste of the wild cherry, and 

 this tree was probably their original 

 food plant. All such trees should be 

 carefully watched as they are liable to 

 be starting points for the invasion of 

 nearby orchards. Next to the wild 

 cherry the caterpillars seek the apple ; 

 but they also do considerable damage 

 upon cherry, plum and peach ; and are 

 known to feed upon the rose and other 

 members of the rose family, and upon 

 witch hazel, beech, birch, oaks, willows 

 and poplars. 



During most of the year, from late 

 July until the following spring, the in- 

 sect will be found in the egg. These 

 eggs are laid in peculiar rings or bands, 

 "thimbles " or "caterpillar belts " some 

 call them, about the smaller twigs as 

 shown in Fig. 1605. From 150 to 250 

 of these eggs are crowded together in 

 this band, which may reach nearly, or 

 quite round the twig. It is covered 

 with a thick layer of glue which makes a 

 glistening protection from the weather. 

 These bands are large enough to be 

 plainly seen and can easily be removed 

 and burned when pruning the trees. In 

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