l6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



few beech trees adjacent to the defohated trees, lost most of the 

 leaves on the upper branches. 



Life history. The insect passes the winter as the dark brown 

 pupa described above. The pupae are readily found in the 

 vicinity of infested trees, within an inch or so of the surface 

 of the soil. Sometimes they are so abundant that lo or 15 may 

 be taken in a square foot, though this segregation is probably 

 due to the condition of the ground at the time the worms are 

 seeking shelters for hibernation. 



There appear to be two broods of this insect in Pennsylvania 

 and that latitude. Melsheimer, writing to Harris from Dover, 

 southern Pennsylvania in 1842, states that there are two broods 

 of larvae in that section, as he had taken caterpillars toward the 

 end of July and again many hundreds about the last of Septem- 

 ber. There appears to be but one generation in the North, the 

 moths having been recorded by Professor Packard as appear- 

 ing about the middle of June. The eggs, according to Dr Riley, 

 are deposited in batches of 30 or more on the under side of the 

 leaves, a single moth laying as many as 142. The young larvae 

 hatch therefrom in 8 or 9 days and about a month later the 

 caterpillars attain full growth, desert the trees and enter the soil 

 to undergo their final transformations ; the worms pupating in 

 midsummer in sections where there are two generations, remain 

 in this stage about 14 to 16 days. 



Natural enemies. This species is subject to attack by several 

 parasitic insects. Dr Riley records Frontina frenchii 

 Will., Belvosia bifasciata Fabr. and L i m n e r i a 

 f u g i t i V a Say as parasites of this form. He also alludes to a 

 record of an egg parasite, probably either a Telenomus or a 

 Trichogramma having been obtained by Mr William Saunders. 



It is very probable that a number of our native birds are very 

 efficient destroyers of this leaf feeder. Mr Edward Willbrant 

 of Center Berlin, Rensselaer co., N. Y., had several acres entirely 

 defoliated by this pest, and one of his sons informed the writer 

 that crows had been quite abundant in the infested woodland 

 after the caterpillars became numerous. It is very probable 

 that these birds are of considerable service in destroying the 

 caterpillars, particularly after rhe latter have attained some size. 



Remedial measures. This leaf feeder is easily controlled on 

 more valued shade trees, by thorough spraying with an arsenical 

 poison, such for example, as arsenate of lead. Obviously these 



