REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I914 3 1 



through the winter after the leaves have fallen. These webs are 

 four to six inches long, occur on the tips of the smaller twigs and 

 invariably have one or more leaves spun into the structure. In the 

 interior of the nest there are pockets lined with soft, white silk con- 

 taining a number of small, reddish brown caterpillars about one- 

 fourth of an inch long. 



The moths have a wing spread of about one and one-fourth inches 

 and are nearly pure white, except for the conspicuous reddish brown 

 tuft at the tip of the abdomen. The adults are found only the latter 

 part of June or in July and may be easily recognized by these charac- 

 teristics. The eggs are laid in July upon the leaves in masses of two 

 hundred to three hundred and covered with brown hairs from the 

 tip of the abdomen. The eggs hatch in August and the young 

 caterpillars commence to feed and construct their shelters. The webs 

 may be easily distinguished from those of the common apple tent 

 caterpillar or the fall webworm, since the tent caterpillar makes its 

 webs in the forks of the branches, whereas those of the brown-tail 

 moth occur at the tips. The fall webworm makes much larger and 

 more open webs than the brown-tail moth and rarely attacks pear, 

 which is a prime favorite of this introduced species. 



The caterpillars become full grown in June and then have a length 

 of one and one-fourth inches. The head is pale brown, mottled with 

 dark brown and the body dark brown or black with numerous fine, 

 dull orange or gray spots over the surface. The body is sparsely 

 covered with reddish brown, finely barbed hairs arising from warts or 

 tubercles, and on each side there is a series of oblique, elongated, 

 whitish markings. These, in connection with the small, bright red 

 tubercles on the top of the tenth and eleventh segments afford the 

 most ready means of identifying the caterpillars. 



The writer has published a detailed description of the hibernating 

 larva in New York State Museum Bulletin 103, page 16. 



Life history. The partly grown caterpillars winter in the hiber- 

 nating webs described above. They begin feeding with the appear- 

 ance of the leaves in the spring, working downward from the tip of 

 the branches and leaving the twigs naked with a grayish web at the 

 top. All but the midrib is devoured except in the case of trees like 

 the Sycamore maple, when the larger ribs also are untouched. When 

 full grown the caterpillars disperse to some extent, which is more 

 marked in localities where the food supply is exhausted early. Several 

 caterpillars frequently pupate in a common cocoon, within the leaves, 

 at the tip of the branches and sometimes in masses under fences or on 

 the trunks and larger branches of trees. The moths fly the latter 



