APPLE INSECTS OF MAINE. 121 



They pave their roads with silk and follow along them to the leaves. 

 When mature, each worm will consume two leaves a day and an average 

 of five hundred leaves wotlld be required for a colony. There are often 

 several webs in a tree. The effects are to rapidly defoliate the tree and 

 draw heavily upon its vitality to produce new leaves. The caterpillars 

 require about six weeks to mature and are then about an inch and three- 

 fourths long. The worms have a "white line along the back, then a 

 yellow line dotted with black, then a black stripe marked with blue and 

 yellow dots, then a wavy yellow line dotted with black, then a blue stripe 

 dotted with yellow, then a broken white line; head black, under side of 

 body black, the body covered with yellowish or whitish hairs." When 

 mature the larvae leave the tree and wander about in search of a place to 

 spin their cocoons. They prefer the loose bark of trees, or the under side 

 of fence caps, and will enter sheds and porches and climb the sides of 

 houses and transform under the edge of clapboards, window caps and 

 eaves. When the orchard is near they become a nuisance by entering the 

 house. 



Cocoon. — Oblong oval, light yellow, formed of a loosely woven, outer 

 covering and a dense, tough, inner coat. The larva enclosed becomes a 

 brown chrysalis and in about three weeks the moth appears. 



Perfect Insect. — A moth of a pale, dull, reddish or reddish-brown color. 

 The fore wings crossed by two oblique, parallel, dirty-white lines. The 

 female is larger than the male. The male has feathery antennae. The 

 moth has no mouth and takes no food and lives only a few days. Its 

 office is to lay the eggs. 



Remedies. 

 Most of the remedies suggested for the forest tent caterpillar 

 are equally valuable in controlling this insect. As this species 

 does not migrate, the jarring and the protective bands are useless. 



THE FALL WEB WORM. Hyphantfia cunea, Drury. 



The fall web worm is a native insect which has from time 

 to time done great damage to forest and fruit trees. It is a gen- 

 eral feeder, having been observed to feed upon over one hundred 

 different species of trees, shrubs and herbs. It makes a web 

 which is sometimes very conspicuous, attaining dimensions of 

 several feet. The web can readily be told from that of the apple 

 tree tent caterpillar. 



We found this insect abundant in western Maine on July 5 



when the webs were already quite conspicuous. In "Forest 



Insects," issued from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. 



Packard, on page 244, says : "The name fall web worm is most 



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