94 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



* " There is scarcely an insect in Maine more generally known 

 than the one to which I now call your attention, when in its larvae 

 or caterpillar state ; yet they are comparatively few who know 

 the moth or miller into which they change. This insect belongs 

 to the same family as the silk worm. The tent caterpillar 

 prefers the wild or native black cherr}' (Prumis Serotina, Exh.J 

 and next to this is most fond of the apple, although it is about 

 equally fond of the choke cherry, (Primus Virginiana,h.) and of 

 the cultivated garden cherry. 1 have also observed its tents upon 

 the wild red cherry, (Prun. Pennsylvanica, L.) and the shadbush, 

 ( Amelanchier Canadensis, T.) 



The eggs from which these caterpillars are hatched, are laid 

 near the ends of the twigs in a thick band, completely surround- 

 ing the branch, and containing over three hundred eggs, which 

 are covered with a thick coating of glutinous matter which serves 

 as a protection against the cold weather. These eggs are de- 

 posited on the trees in July or August, and remain through the 

 winter till the early part of May or later, as the season is early or 

 late, when the young caterpillars hatch from them. They usually 

 hatch in wet or moist weather, as the moisture softens the gluti- 

 nous covering which the young feed upon until they gain suffi- 

 cient strength to make a move, when they crawl down the branch, 

 spinning a fine silken thread from the salivary glands of the 

 mouth. Having arrived at a fork of a limb they stop and erect a 

 kind of tent for their future residence, by crawling around the 

 spot and spinning their threads in every direction-. As the cater- 

 pillars grow larger, the original tent becomes too small for them 

 all, and large numbers of them, as they return from their faraging 

 expeditions, rest side by side upon the outside of the tent and 

 completetly cover it over, while others coming in will wander 

 about and over the sleeping ones, looking for some place of 

 repose, still spinning the ever-present silken thread, till at last a 

 complete scaffolding is formed above those first in, and thus 

 another story has been added to the tent. 



In all cases where 1 have raised tent caterpillars in confinement, 

 they have taken two meals a day, one about the middle of the 

 forenoon, provided the weather was clear and moderate, and one 

 near the middle of the afternoon. Some, however, have stated 

 that they take a third meal in the night, but 1 have never seen 

 this. From the observations of others and my own experiments, 

 I am led to conclude that each caterpillar will consume, on an 

 average, about two apple leaves a day, and as each nest contains 

 about three hundred caterpillars, there would be about six hun- 

 dred leaves destroj-ed each day, a drain which no tree can sustain 

 for any considerable length of time without great injury. After 

 the caterpillars have attained their full growth they lose their 

 social habits and wander off to find retreats where they may form 

 their cocoons, which are oval, white or pale yellow, and attached 

 horizontally to the under side of the fence rails or other protected 

 places. They usually remain in these cocoons about three weeks, 



* Professor C. H. Fernald of the Maine State College. 



