42 



Poplar Defoliators. 



(Icthyura inclusa) . 



Several caterpillars and leaf- miners mar the poplar 

 trees planted in KBntucky, of which perhaps the most 

 destructive is the above. When actively injurious it is a 

 worm, or caterpillar, reaching a length of about one inch,, 

 and may be known by the following characters : Head, 

 jointed legs, a plate at hind extremity, and two double- 

 tubercles on the back, black. Four longitudinal yellow 

 lines along the middle of back. Each side with faint 

 yellow lines and two series of black dots. 



The caterpillars are found during the day in leaves which 

 they have rolled together and lined with silk, the petioles- 

 being fastened to the twigs with silk. Young Lombardy 

 poplars are often seen with but little in the way of leaves 

 besides those occupied by the caterpillars. They appear 

 in June and again in August, hatching from eggs of a 

 pale lilac color placed in a single layer of from 114-134,. 

 on the under side of the leaf. The eggs (.02 inch in 

 diameter) appear to be spherical but really are only 

 about two-thirds of a sphere, the side attached to the 

 leaf being fattened. The eggs are laid by an obscurely 

 marked gray moth with wing expanse of about 1.12 

 inch. 



Immediately after hatching the worms are pale green, 

 with numerous black spots, the double tubercles being 

 just visible. They live in a company on the'upper side 

 of the leaf, building over themselves a tent-like web, and 

 gnawing away the upper layer of leaf substance so as to 

 expose the skeleton, eventually the leaf is drawn together 

 so as to completely enclose them, but with openings 

 through which they can pass in and out when feeding. 

 Other species which also fold the leaves are sometimes- 

 associated with this species on the same tree. Since all 



