INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 419 
outbreaks have been known to persist for 3 to 5 years or more before 
the natural factors were able to bring the pest under control. Recent 
outbreaks have caused serious injury to maple-sugar orchards in Ver- 
mont (fig. 87 A, B), and to deciduous forests in New England, New 
York, Minnesota. Michigan, Mississippi, and Louisiana. 
In areas where the tree growth is of sufficient value to warrant the 
expense, particularly in areas of high recreational value, the foliage 
can be protected from the 
ravages of this insect by 
timely spraying with a 
stomach poison (p. 52). 
The moth of Zolype 
velleda (Stoll.) has a 
wing expanse of 11% to 
21, inches. The head and 
thorax are white, the ab- 
domen is gray, and on the 
middle of the back is a 
large blackish spot. The 
wings are gray, some- 
times dusky, and are 
crossed by white lines. 
The full-grown larva is 
eray with many faint 
longitudinal lines and is 
about 214 inches long. 
The body is flattened and 
has lateral lappets, each 
of which has many long 
hairs thus forming a 
fringe along each side of 
the body. The metatho- 
rax has a dorsal pair of 4% #8 ?osteiae otaae ee: } 
warts bordered posterl- Figure 86—Mass of forest tent caterpillars 
orly by a velvety black (Jlalacosoma disstria) on the trunk of a tree. 
band, which may be con- 
cealed when the larva is at rest. The species ranges from Quebec south 
through the Atlantic States and west to Michigan. The larvae feed on 
apple, ash, aspen, basswood, cherry, elm, maple, oak, and other decidu- 
ous trees, but have never been reported in abundance. The moths 
emerge in September and October, the eggs are deposited in rows and 
are covered with hairs from the abdomen of the female, the larvae 
may be found from June to August, and the pupae are in flattened, 
tough, parchmnentlike cocoons on the bark in August and September. 
There is one generation annually. Zolype laricis ~ (Fitch) is a smaller 
species, and the larvae feed on larch. Its range and life cycle are sim- 
ilar to those of 7’. velleda. 
The lappet moth (/picnaptera americana (Harr.)) is reddish 
brown, with the inner angle of the forewings and the costal margin of 
the hind wings deeply notched and with a pale band edged with ir- 
regular dark- brown lines beyond the middle of each wing. The wing 
expanse is from 11/, to nearly 2 inches. The full-grown larva is about 
2% inches long and flattened, with lateral lappets. The body is 
