FALL CANKER WORM 



89 



should be kept sticky during seasons of infestation by "combing" 

 with paddle or brush or adding new material. 



The Fall Canker Worm (Alsophila pometaria Harris). This 

 measuring worm or "looper" also feeds on the foliage, sometimes 

 stripping a tree completely. It not only attacks apple, plum, and 

 other fruit trees, but is at times destructive to basswood and elm 

 (Fig. 108). 



Description. The adult male moth, grayish or whitish in 

 color, has fore-wings crossed by two light bands, the outer one 

 indented on the front margin so as to form a distinct spot. This 

 outer band is also seen on the hind wings, but less distinct. The 

 female of this species is wing- 

 less and of a uniform, ash-gray 

 color without markings. The 

 segments are about as broad 

 as long, without hairs. 



The full-grown larva is 

 from three-fourths to an inch 

 in length, slender, cylindrical, 

 with two pairs of pro-legs 

 on the abdomen, which dis- 

 tinguishes it from the spring 

 canker worm, the latter hav- 

 ing only one pair. The color 

 varies from ash gray to green 



J FIG. 109. The fall canker worm. Above: a, 



Or yellow, but the predomi- 6, single eggs, much enlarged; c, d, joints of cater- 



,. i'ii i pillar, much enlarged; e, egg mass; /, caterpillar; 



Dating COlor IS dark greenish ff , pupa of female. Below: a, male moth; b, female 



yellow or blackish. It is moth; d ' one joint 



marked with narrow, pale lines down the back and a whitish stripe 



along each side. 



Life History. The moths may emerge from the middle of 

 September to as late as the middle of November, or even later 

 depending apparently upon climate and season the eggs being 

 laid in clusters of about one hundred in rows. These eggs are 

 fastened on end on the bark of smaller branches or on the trunk. 

 They are brownish gray, each something like a flower pot in shape, 

 with a spot in the center and a ring on the outer end (Fig. 109). 

 They hatch the following spring, in April, May, or early June. 

 The caterpillars when full grown, in midsummer, pupate in the 

 soil beneath the infested tree. 



Control. They are easily controlled by the usual arsenical 



