BROWN-TAII, MOTH AND OTHER ORCHARD MOTHS. 155 



in Portsmouth and Kittery, the electric lights about the navy 

 yards being the centre of attraction on the Maine side of the 

 river. 



While many of the moths were killed, without doubt enough 

 escaped to distribute eggs all about that vicinity, and though 

 the young caterpillars do practically no harm in the fall, there 

 is every reason to believe that they will be present in alarming 

 numbers another spring, unless the winter nests are removed 

 as they were last season. Such a wholesale immigration of 

 winged forms might never happen again, but while there is a 

 chance of its occurring any summer, and an almost certain 

 danger of small and less conspicuous immigrations, it is well to 

 understand the situation and conditions about Kittery, espec- 

 ially in view of making it less vulnerable to orchard pests. 



DESCRIPTION AND HABITS. 



The moths. (Figure 27.) The moths, expanding from one 

 and one-fourth to one and three-fourths inches, are white except 

 for the abdomen, which is tinged with brown and tipped with 

 a tuft of brown hairs. This tuft is small and dark in the male, 

 but the large golden-brown tuft in the female is conspicuous 

 enough to be the most striking characteristic of the moth, and 

 has won for this insect its descriptive name of "brown-tail." 

 These moths are on the wing in July, and unlike some closely 

 related pests,* the brown-tail females as well as the males are 

 strong fliers. They are active at night and as bright lights have 

 an attraction for them they sometimes fly a long way toward a 

 lighted district. 



The eggs. The female usually selects a leaf near the tip of 

 the branch, on which to deposit from one hundred and fifty to 

 three hundred eggs. Some of the brown hairs from the abdom- 

 inal tuft adhere to the egg-mass and give it the appearance of 

 a brown felt lump. While the moths have a preference for pear 

 trees, wild cherry, apple, and white oak prove very attractive 

 and other trees are not scorned. 



The caterpillars in the fall. By the middle of August most of 

 the egg's are hatched and the young caterpillars spin a slight 



*The weak-winged female gypsy moth and the wingless females of certain 

 tussock moths. 



