196 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



styracifliid)^ dog wood^ 'black gum/ sour gum (Nyssa sylvatica), ash, elm 

 black walnut, hickory, walnut, oak, black oak, post oak, white birch, 

 gray birch, willow and poplar. 



Natural enemies. On account of this insect's depredations being 

 confined mostly to the woods, we must depend largely upon its natural 

 enemies to keep it in check. In 1879, William Saunders records the 

 destruction by a fungus disease of large numbers of larvae belonging to this 

 species. Professor Forbes, state entomologist of Illinois, found a great 

 many of the.se larvae dead in the southern part of that state. So fatal 

 was the disease that from half to three fourths of the cocoons never 

 yielded the imago. The next year, though enough larvae hatched to 

 do considerable damage, many died when they were little over half an 

 inch long and in some cases whole colonies were killed. Professor 

 Forbes has identified this disease as muscardine, and though so deadly 

 to the larvae, no attempt seems to have been made to cultivate and dis- 

 seminate the fungus. 



Very few true parasites have been bred from this insect. Dr Riley 

 records the rearing oi Limneria fugitiva Say and WiUiam Saunders states 

 that Pimpla pedalis Cres. preys on this species. Pimpla conquisitor 

 Say was reared from several pupae collected in Delaware county last 

 year the proportion of the cocoons parasitized indicated that it was very 

 valuable in controlling this caterpillar. The following dipterous parasites 

 have been reported by Mr Coquillett (see citation): Euphorocera clari- 

 pennis Macq., Fro?iiina frenchii Will., and Tachi?ia niella Walk. A 

 number of predaceous insects prey upon the caterpillars. One of great 

 value is Calosoma scrutator Fabr., a species which Dr Riley characterized 

 as most efficient. The beautiful and equally ferocious Calosoma calidum 

 Fabr., is another valuable enemy, as stated by William Saunders. 

 Mr Burgess (see citation) records that Calosoma wilcoxi LeC. fed readily 

 in confinement upon the larvae of this insect. Two predaceous hemip- 

 terons, Podisus placidus Uhler and P. serieventris Uhler are also known 

 to feed upon the caterpillars (Kirkland, see citation). A mite, } Trombidium 

 sp., was discovered by William Saunders destroying many clusters of eggs. 

 The vertebrate enemies of this species are presumably as numerous, if not 

 more, than those of the apple-tree tent caterpillar. William Saunders cites 

 an instance in which a black-billed cuckoo, Coccygus erythropthabnus Wils., 

 was brought to him with its crop filled with the caterpillars. It is quite 

 probable that many other birds feed upon this insect, possibly more than 

 on the apple-tree tent caterpillar, but no such records have come to 

 my notice. The common toad has been recorded by Mr Kirkland as 



