THE INSECT RECORD FOR I9OO 



17 



eight or ten feet from the ground. One was found clinging to 

 the white petals of a beautiful sweet pea blossom ; a photo- 

 graph of it is shown on the title page to this bulletin. The 

 dead grasshoppers become mummified and remain in position 

 until they are broken up by wind and weather. 



In previous bulletins some account has been given of the life 

 history of the Choke Cherry Tent-Maker^ which for sev- 

 eral years has been very abundant along the roadsides where 

 choke cherry bushes grow. The situation in which the eggs 

 are laid has not, 

 however, hereto- 

 fore been known. 

 Last spring I 

 found that they 

 are laid on the 

 bark of the food- 

 plant very near 

 the ground. The 

 flattened masses 

 are at first of a 

 yellow color, but 

 they soon become 

 brow^n and. so 

 closely resemble 



the bark that it is difficult to distinguish them. There is but 

 one brood of larvce each year ; the eggs laid in summer re- 

 maining unhatched until the following spring. Then the young 

 larvae crawl to the top of the bush, where they construct a tent 

 by sewing together the terminal leaves. One of these early 

 tents is illustrated in Fig. 7. We also bred great numbers of 

 parasites from these insects this season. 



An extraordinary and widespread attack was made during 

 the summer upon the leaves of birch trees throughout the state. 

 A great many people noticed that the foliage of these trees 

 was seared and brown long before the proper time, and if they 

 looked at all closely they saw that each leaf was largely 

 denuded of the green surface materials so that it showed the 

 network of veins. Here and there upon the leaves one could 



^Cacoecia cerasivorana Fitch. 



Fig. 7. — Early Tent of Choke Cherry Tent-Maker. 



