236 ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



are various. Some farmers blow and burn oft* the tents, and all their inhabitants, with a 

 small charge of gunpowder ! ethers twist off the tents with a forked stick, or a pole with 

 a stiff brush fastened to its end, and trample the dislodged insects under foot ; others still 

 employ a swab charged with whale-oil soap, a very little of which article will kill many 

 ot' the insects, and compel others to disperse. Whichever of these means is resorted to, it 

 must l>e put in requisition either late in the day. oi at noon, or early in the morning before 

 the insects go out to feed. It is also advisable to begin early in the season, with the first 

 appearance of the caterpillars : their tents are then small, and a whole community may 

 be destroyed with the greatest ease. 



To eradicate completely the tent caterpillar, it will be necessary to give attention to the 

 wild ehern trees that are scattered over the farm and by the sides of fences : the cherry, 

 it will be seen, is a favorite tree with this insect, and scarcely passes a season with entire 

 freedom from it. 



It will be observed, that if the foregoing remarks are true, the farmer has no need of 

 receipts to heal the ravages of these insects; for, to ensure freedom from their attacks, he 

 has only to examine his trees after the fall of the leaves in autumn, for the rings of eggs 

 on the small branches, which may be removed by the hand or a knife ; or if this has been 

 neglected, then search for the tents of the young caterpillars when the buds begin to open 

 in the spring. 



As the caterpillar grows, the tent is enlarged by the construction of an additional web 

 over and around the first, enclosing thereby a space large enough to meet the demands 

 arising from increased size ; and so it continues to add successively new webs over the 

 old, which have become filthy, and unfit and unhealthy as dwelling-places, though a few 

 of the weak and more indolent remain still within them. 



Attacxs Polyphemus. (Plate xliv, fig. 1.) 



Color dull ochre-yellow, somewhat clouded with black. Wings ornamented with an eyelike 



spot : adjoining their margins there are two parallel belts, the outer one reddish and 



the inner black. Outer angle of the superior wings marked with a black spot, divided 



by a reddish white line. Eyelike spots round outer narrow border black ; inner ochre 



yellow, surrounding a white centre. Posterior wings are ornamented with a similar 



eyelike spot, but surrounded by a large bluish black spot extending upward towards 



the base of the wings : inner posterior angle truncate. Thorax traversed in front by 



a narrow grayish belt, and connecting itself with a similar border on the front edge 



of the wing. The wings expand to six inches. 



The caterpillar inhabits the oak and elm, and may be found in August and September. 



The absence of yellow stripes on the sides and transverse bands on the back, and the 



presence of a mark of the shape of the letter V, will serve to distinguish these caterpillars 



from those of the I una moth. 



