6 



Life History. 

 The gypsy moth, like all insects of its class, exists under four 

 difierent forms during the year. 



Tlie Egg. — The eggs of the gypsy moth are laid in July and 

 August in a yellowish, hair-coTered mass averaging about one and 

 one-half inches long and ' ahout three- 

 fourths of an inch wide. To the eye the 

 egg mass resembles a small, tightly stuffed, 

 oval, bufE-colored cushion. During win- 

 ter the color often fades to a dingy white. 

 In this mass, the eggs, to the average 

 number of about five hundred, are closely 

 packed with yellowish hair from the body 

 of the female moth. An individual egg 

 is scarcely as large as a pinhead, salmon- 

 colored when first laid, but turning dark 

 in the course of a few weeks. 



The Caterpillar or Larva. — The eggs 

 hatch about May 1, and each mass or 

 " cluster" yields a swarm of small cater- 

 pillars, the bulk of which become fully 

 grown by midsummer. Gypsy moth cater- 

 pillars of any age are decidedly hairy. The head 



of the caterpillar is large in proportion to its 



body, this being especially noticeable when it is 



young. 



The mature caterpillar has a dusky or sooty- 

 colored body. Along the back, counting from 



the head, which is marked with yellow, is a 



double row of blue spots followed by a double 



row of red spots. This double row of spots 



almost invariably may be seen very distinctly on 



the back of a gypsy moth caterpillar which has 



attained a length of one inch and a half or more. 



There are five pairs of blue spots and six pairs 



of red spots. No other New England larva has 



this double row of blue and red spots along its 



back. Until the gypsy moth caterpillar grows 



to the length of an inch and a half, however, it 



does not always show very distinctly these pairs 



of spots. The mature gypsy moth caterpillar not infrequently 



attains a length of three inches. 



Fig. 1.— Egg cluster of 

 gypsy moth. 



Fig. 2. — Full-ffTown 

 caterpillar oi the 

 gypsy moth. 



