BASKET-CARRIERS. 
OU who have been to the country, in the summer, and 
who have kept your eyes alive to the surroundings, 
have doubtless seen the Basket-worm feeding upon the 
leaves of the quince, apple, peach, linden, and other decidu- 
ous trees, as well as upon such evergreen as the arbor-vite, 
Norway spruce, and red cedar. In Germany these worms 
are popularly designated Sack-trager, or Sack-bearer, while 
the mature insect is spoken of as the House-builder Moth. 
Scientifically speaking, the latter is called Thyridopteryx 
ephemereformis, a name which is nearly twice the length of 
the caterpillar it represents. 
During the winter the curious weather-beaten bags of 
these worms may be observed hanging from the tree- 
branches, apparently without a trace of the odd-looking creat- 
ures that hung them there the autumn before. If a number 
of these bags are gathered and cut open at this time, many 
of them will be discovered to be empty, but the greater por- 
tion will be found partly full of yellow eggs. Those which 
do not contain eggs are male bags, and the empty chrysalis 
of the male will be found protruding from the lower ex- 
tremity. Upon close examination these eggs will be ob- 
served to be obovate in form, soft and opaque, about one- 
twentieth of an inch in length, and surrounded by more or 
less fawn-colored silky down. If left to themselves, they 
hatch sometime in May, or early in June. 
The young which come from these eggs are of a brown 
color, very active in their movements, and begin at once to 
make for themselves coverings of silk, to which they fasten 
