112 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



alone makes the matter of much greater importance, since vessels 

 would afford the insect excellent opportunities to extend its range 

 in this country, and there would be much greater difficulty, if it 

 should become at all abundant, in limiting the spread of the 

 species than was the case with the gipsy moth. 



The parent insects are said to fly during July and August. 

 The moths are a grayish or yellowish white, irregularly marked 

 on the fore wings with dark brown or black, as shown on plate 

 6, figure 2. The hind wings are a pearly gray and margined 

 with grayish brown spots. The abdomen is transversely marked 

 with more or less distinct black bands interspersed with a 

 reddish or rosy hue. The female has a wing spread of nearly 2 

 inches and the male about an inch and a half. The latter may be 

 recognized by its smaller size and the pectinate antennae. 



The larva has been described by Furneaux as follows : " The 

 caterpillar is hairy, and of a grayish white color. A brown stripe 

 runs down the back. On the top of the second segment are two 

 blue tubercles; and there is also a tubercle, of a reddish color, 

 on each of the ninth, 10th and ilth segments." 



The larva has been recorded as feeding on a number of trees, 

 notably oak, birch, fir, pine and apple, becomes full grown in 

 June or July, and is specially injurious to spruce forests. 



This species, as recorded by Myrick, is sometimes exceedingly 

 destructive to fir forests on the continent, stripping the trees so 

 completely as to kill them. A more detailed account of what this 

 insect will do is given by Professor Fernow, now director of the 

 New York State College of Forestry. He states 1 that the rav- 

 ages of this insect in Europe from 1853 to 1867 involved an area 

 of over 100,000 square miles and destroyed 55,000,000 cords of 

 wood, necessitating the premature cutting of 7,000,000 cords to 

 save it from subsequent attack by bark beetles. The attack in 

 1891 at first involved some 20,000 acres of spruce in upper 

 Bavaria, but soon reports were received from all parts of Ger- 

 many, Austria, Bohemia, etc., indicating an unusual abundance 

 of the insect, so that many thousand square miles of forest were 

 involved. Over |8000 were spent in the first named district in 

 checking the ravages of the insect, and a special committee was 



lustci L'fe. Ifc9l. 3 : 3?'.'. 



