142 INSECTS OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 



the larvre are brittle and barbed and when they 

 strike the skin cause a nettle or rash quite serious to 

 some people. 



Eggs laid in July in masses of 200 to 400 on 

 leaves and covered with brown hair from body of 

 female ; they hatch and the larv?e feed in groups on 

 leaves until fall when they go into hibernation in 

 hibernacula made by webbing many leaves together, 

 at the ends of branches ; in the spring they eat leaves 

 again and become full-grown latter part of June; 

 pupate in cocoons in crevices of bark and other 

 nooks; moths appear in July; one generation a sea- 

 son. 



Control — Spray with arsenate of lead for cater- 

 pillars 3 to 5 pounds to 50 gallons of water ; cut out 

 nests of larv?e during dormant period of tree. 



The gypsy moth ^'^ (PorfJictria dispar) 

 Order — Lepidoptera 



The gypsy moth gained a foothold by the escape 

 of larv?e or eggs from breeding cages at Medford, 

 Mass., about 1869; ^'^^w found in Connecticut, 

 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and 

 ]\laine; the female moth has. light buff wings 

 marked with dark, wavy lines while the male is 

 light brown in color. 



Eggs laid in clusters of 300 to 400 in July and 

 covered with hair; they are deposited in crevices 

 of bark, brush piles, stone-walls, etc., and hatch 

 the next spring in May; larvcC mature last of June 

 and first of July and pupate in various places in 

 thin network of silk ; the moths appear in July and 

 deposit eggs; only one generation a year; the food 

 plants are almost all trees, especially apple, oak, and 

 W'illows. 



9, 10 Rogers and Burgess— U. S. Bii. Ent., Bull. 87. 



