THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH 



m 



Fig. 14.— Pnpse, 14 natural size. Male and 

 female. 



mottled with darker 

 brown. The body is 

 dark brown or black, 

 well marked with 

 patches of orange and 

 covered with numerous 

 tubercles bearing long 

 barbed hairs. The tu- 

 bercles along the back 

 and sides of the abdo- 

 men are thickly cov- 

 ered with short brown 

 hairs in addition to the 

 longer ones, which give 

 these tubercles a vel- 

 vety appearance under 



a lens. It is these short hairs (Fig 12 at 3) which are the 



"nettling hairs." The white dashes along the sides of the 



abdomen are more prominent and enable the immediate 



identification of the 



caterpillar of the 



brown-tail moth from 



any other in New 



England. (See Fig. 



11.) 



Pupa. — During the 



second week in June 



the caterpillars spin 



up thin silken co- 

 coons of white silk 



among the leaves, a 



number often spin- 



n i n g cocoons to- 

 gether, so as to form 



a considerable mass 



of web. The cocoon 



is so loose in strue- 



., . ,, . Fig. 15.— Brown-Tail Moths, natural size. 



ture that the cater- Male above, female below. 



