REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, 1 898 



17T 



CIiISIOCA3IPA AMERICANA Fair. 



Apple-tree tent cate7pillar 



Old. Lepidoptera : Fam. Lasiocampidae 



The wide-spread and severe ravages of the tent caterpillar the last two- 

 or three years have led to a more general desire for knowledge about this 

 species. Though its life history and habits are well known to erto- 

 mologists and have been repeatedly published, yet, aside from the occur- 

 rence of the larvae in their nests from spring to spring, many seem to have 

 little idea of the insect's habits. 



An old and familiar pest. This species attracted the attention of 

 the earliest entomologists. Its conspicuous white nests in the forks of 

 cherry trees along the roadsides and in the ne^^lected orchards of New 

 England were well-known features of the landscape during the spring^ 





I 



Fig. 5 Wild cherry-tree detoliated Dy tent caterpillars (after Weed, C. M.). 



months in the latter part of the i8th century as well as in the igth. Irt 

 the latter part of May it is by no means uncommon to see many of the 

 wild cherry-trees beside the country roads practically leafless, and swarm- 



