UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



s^r^^Lru 



BULLETIN No. 598 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 

 L. O. HOWARD Chie: 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



February 4, 1918 



ORCHARD INJURY BY THE HICKORY TIGER- 

 MOTH. 



By Dwight Isely, Scientific Assistant, Deciduous Fruit Insect Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



H istory 1 



Common name 



Synonymy „. I 



Distribution J 



Description ol stages c 



Food plants ., 



Page. 



Seasonal history 7 



Hah its 10 



P arasi t es 11 



Economic importance 12 



Control 12 



Literature cited U 



INTRODUCTION. 



The injurious stage of the hickory tiger-moth, IJalisidota caryae 

 Harris, 1 is a gregarious summer caterpillar (Pis. I. II) which, al- 

 though a general feeder on deciduous trees and shrubs, causes occa- 

 sional injury in orchards of pomaceous fruits and cultivated walnuts. 

 While in this respect it is a minor pest, its injury, where it occurs, 

 is severe and conspicuous and is the source of frequent inquiries to 

 the Bureau of Entomology and to entomologists in the field. The 

 writer's attention was frequently called to the work of this cater- 

 pillar while stationed at North East, Pa., during the seasons of 1914, 

 1915, and 1910, and there, incidental to the major projects then 

 under investigation, the seasonal history and habits of this insect 

 have been studied and the necessary remedial measures determined. 2 



HISTORY. 



Injury by the hickory tiger-moth was first described by Harris in 

 1841 (1) in the earliest important work on economic entomology pub- 



1 Order Lepidoptera, family Arctiidae. 



8 The writer was assisted in 1915 by E. R. Selkregg and in 1916 by James K. Primm. 

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