AND THE MECHANIC ARTS. 5^9 



appeared, stripi>ing hundreds of acres of forest land in various 

 sections of the Sandwich Range of mountains. Following Mr. 

 Clarke's communication came numerous inquiries concerning the 

 "green- caterpillar," which was said to be sweeping the forest 

 of all vegetation through the town of Tamworth. Within two 

 or three days the mail of the Station Entomologist was practi- 

 cally doubled. For this reason a personal investigation was at 

 once begun to try and determine the facts concerning the out- 

 break. In this work the greatest assistance was rendered the 

 writer by Dr. Wm. Rollins, whose summer home is also near 

 Tamworth. 



In driving through the country one's attention was at once 

 attracted by the vast tracts of brown woodland, broken ouly 

 here and there by small clumps of pine trees. On the farm of 

 Mr. Eliot C. Clarke, eight miles west of Tamworth, was one 

 such-infested area which was carefully studied, and is quite 

 typical of the section. The tract of land under consideration 

 was located in the foothills of the Sandwich Range, at something 

 over one thous:,nd feet elevation, and was probably a mile or 

 more in diameter. The timber consisted principally of maple, 

 birch and beech, with a small variety of shrubs and other trees. 

 This region was very distinctly divided into three zones. The 

 first, or central portion, comprised an area of several hundred 

 acres, which was entirely stripped of all foliage. However, 

 beside the conifers there was one peculiar exception, the 

 striped maple or moosewood {Acer pennsylvanicum) was appar- 

 ently unharmed, bushes in full leaf being in evidence in all parts 

 of the forest. In this central area few, if any, larvse were to 

 be found, although I was informed that about a week earlier the 

 rocks, trees and ground were literally covered with one great 

 crawling mass of green caterpillars, but by the time I arrived 

 nearly all of these had' either starved or begun preparations to 

 pupate. Just beneath the leaves were countless numbers in all 

 stages of pupation. Probably a third of those attempting to 

 pupate were so weakened by starvation that a complete trans- 

 formation was impossible. Large numbers of partially formed 

 pupae were found dead, beside quantities of larvae which had only 

 reached the third stage, but were enclosed in their thin silken 

 cocoons ready to pupate. This was undoubtedly caused by the 

 entire lack of food, the partially grown larvae taking refuge un- 

 der the dead leaves. 



The second zone varied in width from a few yards to several 

 rods, and entirely surrounded the first. This zone was charac- 



