APPLE INSECTS OF MAINE. II9 



them to retrace their steps. Soon the branches are lined with these 

 silken patns along which they travel in search of food. They shed their 

 skin (molt) four times, changing color and markings in the first three. 

 They are full fed in about six weeks, though the growth may be hastened 

 or retarded by the weather or food supply. At this time they may be 

 seen wandering about for a suitable place to spin their cocoons. 



Cocoon. — -The larva spins a whitish-yellow cocoon, resembling that of 

 the apple tree tent caterpillar, and by preference folds it in . a leaf, but 

 often attaches it to loose bark or about fences, houses or other places of 

 concealment. Inside of the cocoon the caterpillar changes, in two or 

 three days, to the chrysalis. In two or three weeks the moths emerge. 



Perfect Insect. — A brownish yellow moth, expanding an inch and a 

 half or more. The fore wings marked by two oblique brown lines, the 

 space between them usually darker than the rest of the wing. The moths 

 eat nothing. After they have mated and laid their eggs, they die, com- 

 pleting the life history. 



Remedies. 



(a) Collect the tgg clusters in winter when the trees are bare. 



(b) While young the caterpillars can be destroyed by spraying 

 with Paris green, but when half grown the amount of poison 

 they get in feeding will not. kill them. 



(c) After the third molt, they collect in bunches, on the trunks 

 and branches, and can be reached by hand or by spraying. A 

 solution of one pound of washing powder in four or five gallons 

 of water, applied to the bunches by means of a swab attached to 

 a long pole, has proved effectual. 



(d) After the caterpillars begin to collect in bunches, or even 

 before, spread a sheet of canvas under the tree. Climb the tree 

 and with a padded mallet suddenly jar the branches on which 

 they rest, and they will fall on the canvas and can be swept up 

 and destroyed. This method is applicable to both orchard and 

 shade trees, and would recommend itself to town authorities, as 

 by the employment of a few men for a few days in June, in 

 Maine, the shade trees could be protected. 



(e) Put bands of cotton, or of tarred paper bearing a ring of a 

 mixture of equal parts of sulphur and lard, around the trees, or 

 use any other practical method to prevent them from ascending 

 the trees. . In our own experience a band of paper covered with 

 the lard and sulphur mixture has proved an absolutely effectual 

 barrier. 



(f) The moths are night fliers and are attracted by electric 

 lights and many are probably destroyed this way. The cater- 



