THE; SADDLED PROMINENT. 331 



by a thin spinning of silk. The structure is hardly worthy the 

 name cocoon as it is easily broken in throwing back the leaves 

 and the loose pupae exposed. Sometimes, however, a fairly 

 stable cocoon is constructed and such a one to which particles 

 of earth have adhered is shown in Figure 26. 



The insect after remaining in the pupal stage all winter 

 emerges with the warm spring days. On May 27 the writer 

 observed great numbers of these moths breaking through the 

 leaf mold during the warm afternoon and creeping up some 

 convenient object while their wings expanded. 



During captivity the moths mated the first night and began 

 laying eggs soon afterward. The length of life of an individual 

 moth could not be estimated as the captive moths break their 

 wings and otherwise disable themselves usually before all their 

 eggs are deposited. As to the number of eggs laid by a single 

 moth the following record is of interest. June 3, 1908, one 

 female freshly emerged was dissected and the eggs in the ova- 

 rian tubes were counted. They varied from 55 to 75 in the 

 different tubes of which there are 8, and the total number for 

 this one moth was approximately 500 eggs. Later 12 females 

 that had died in the cage were dissected and the unlaid eggs 

 remaining in the egg strings were counted. The total number 

 of unlaid eggs was 629 giving an average of 52-)- of unlaid eggs 

 to each moth. In some individuals only 5 or 6 eggs remained. 

 In 3 individuals the number of unlaid eggs was between 125- 

 150, however, a condition doubtless due to the moths beating 

 themselves to death before they finish depositing eggs, in their 

 attempts to get out of the cage. 



FOOD PLANTS. 



Beech leaves have been unquestionably the favorite food of 

 this species during the two years attack in Maine. Over about 

 800 acres on Frye's Island, Sebago Lake, and about 800 acres 

 on Cape Raymond, the beech was completely stripped, the birch 

 being taken later. At Upper Gloucester the beeches were taken 

 first these trees being defoliated over 100 acres by July n. At 

 this time maple and oak had been in some cases stripped but the 

 white birch was at that time practically untouched. By July 

 23, however, the birch had succumbed also. 



Isolated maple groves as well as maples present with beech 

 in forest growths were stripped often by the saddled prominent 



