the; saddled prominent. 339 



beech, birch and maple. They strip a tree clean of leaves and 

 take tree after tree." 



August 1. Fryeburg, Oxford County. "The wretched infes- 

 tation of these worms make life in the country difficult and 

 destroy the pleasure of my hitherto beautiful summer home." 



August 1. Gardiner, Kennebec County. "Worms that are 

 destroying the foliage of beech, maple and birch in the forests." 



August 5. Sebago Lake, Cumberland County. "I was in the 

 woods yesterday and there are scarcely any of the Prominents 

 to be found in the trees now." 



Degree; oe Injury Due to the Saddled Prominent. 



The question uppermost in the minds of owners of infested 

 woodland is whether the stripped trees will die. While it is 

 not possible definitely to predict the degree of injury caused by 

 such an attack, the following statements are of interest in this 

 regard. Weather is one controlling factor, hard winters, 

 excessive drought, or other unfavorable climatic conditions 

 occurring at the time of such a severe stripping of trees increase 

 the danger of fatal results. Under ordinary conditions some 

 species of deciduous trees will stand being stripped for 2 con- 

 secutive years, and recover from the shock. If other conditions 

 are particularly favo/able a 3 years seige may not prove fatal. 

 Some species of trees will stand what others cannot. The 

 beech growth at Upper Gloucester and North Fryeburg which 

 the writer had under observation was thoroughly stripped in 

 1907 and leaved out heavily and well the following spring. At 

 South Leeds, Mr. John O. Bates, at whose place a large maple 

 grove was completely stripped by the saddled prominent both 

 in 1907 and 1908 wrote on September 16, 1908: "The old 

 growth maple all leaved out in good shape last spring. The 

 leaves on the young maple tops were a pale yellow. This year 

 the grove was stripped' as bare as winter about the first of 

 August. Last year the trees did not leave out again after being 

 stripped. This year the maples have all leaved out and some 

 of the limbs of the beeches have leaved out." 



Other reports that the trees, particularly the maple, were 

 releaving came from various parts of Maine during late August 

 this year. 



