378 A PRACTICAL HAND BOOK 



cessf ul material to use for this purpose, bands of tar and printer's 

 ink needing renewal frequently, while metal deflectors are expen- 

 sive and often need readjustment to prevent gaps opening, 

 through which the insects can pass. For the fall canker worm the 

 Tanglefoot should be applied by the middle of October in a band 

 from four to six inches wide, while for the spring canker worm it 

 should be applied the first warm day in February, even if there be 

 snow on the ground. If the canker worms are already feeding on 

 the foliage when their presence is first discovered, spraying with a 

 stomach poison is the most satisfactory remedy. 



THE WHITE-MARKED TUSSOCK MOTH. 



This insect feeds on the leaves of many of our shade and fruit 

 trees and is quite abundant throughout the eastern United States. 

 The winter is passed in the egg stage, the eggs being laid in clus- 

 ters on the old cocoons of the female moths, covered by a white 

 froth which quickly hardens, forming a crust. These egg masses 

 and the cocoons on which they occur are found on the larger limbs 

 and trunks of the trees and sometimes on the smaller twigs, gen- 

 erally in the latter case with a leaf more or less bound to the 

 cocoon, thus rendering these more noticeable during the winter. 



The eggs hatch in the spring andthe cater pillars feed till full 

 grown in June. They are then an inch and a half or more in 

 length, yellow and black in color, and have two long pencils of 

 black hairs at the head and a third at the hinder end of the body, 

 besides four short, dense, yellowish, very noticeable tufts in a 

 row a short distance behind the head, which is coral red. The 

 caterpillars now go to the trunk and larger limbs, where they 

 spin their silken cocoons, from which the adult moths soon 

 escape. 



The female moth being wingless, lays her eggs on the outside of 

 the cocoon from which she emerged, covering them with a white 

 froth, as already described. The eggs soon hatch and the cater- 

 pillars crawl to the leaves, where they feed during the latter part 

 of July and August. When full grown, they in their turn go to the 

 limbs and trunk to form their cocoons, from which the second gen- 

 eration of moths escape and lay their eggs which winter over. 



