126 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



but the wings show variations from pure white to those profusely 

 dotted with black and brown ; front thighs tawny yellow, som e- 

 times marked with a large black spot ; feet blackish : expanse of 

 wings 1 1-4 to 1 2-3 inches ; male moth usually smaller with the 

 antenna? doubly feathered beneath. The antennae of the female 

 possess two rows of minute teeth. The moth is shown natural 

 size in Fig. 6. 



Life History. 



The female deposits her eggs in a cluster on the upper or under 

 side of a leaf, usually near the end of a branch. The clusters 

 consist of many eggs laid in regular rows, if the surface of the 

 leaf admits. Sometimes the eggs are laid in smaller irregular 

 patches. Each female lays on an average about five hundred 

 eggs. The eggs for the first brood are deposited by the last of 

 May or during June, and the time required for them to hatch 

 depends upon the weather. Under favorable circumstances they 

 mature in about ten days, or those of the second brood in eight 

 days. As soon as the caterpillars hatch they spin a small silken 

 web which soon becomes conspicuous. Under this they feed 

 together upon the upper surface of the leaves. As they grow 

 other leaves and branches are included until the web reaches con- 

 siderable size and contains dead leaves and the molt skins of the 

 larvae. If their food supply gives out they quit the web and drop 

 to the ground and crawl directly toward other trees with almost 

 unerring instinct, or when disturbed let themselves down by a 

 thread and by this regain the tree when the danger is past. 



"When full grown they are 1.11 inches long and leave the web 

 and wander about for suitable places to spin their cocoons. They 

 select crevices in bark, the angles of tree boxes, rubbish about 

 the base of trees, and other similar situations, while the fall 

 brood prefer to bury themselves in the earth if possible, but 

 adapt themselves to circumstances. They soon spin their 

 cocoons. The pupae contained in these hatch into the second 

 brood of moths about the first of August, and the moths lay 

 eggs which hatch into caterpillars that feed, mature and spin 

 their cocoons during August and September. The insects inva. 

 riably spend the winter in the chrysalis state in the cocoon and 

 the following spring the moths emerge and lay their eggs, thus 

 completing the life history. 



