1672 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Habits and Injuries of the Pecan Leaf 

 Caterpillar 



The caterpillars are one and a half to 

 one and three-quarter inches long, with 

 enough soft, dirty-white hair on their 

 bodies to be called hairy. Their bodies 

 are dark colored and marked with two 

 prominent white lines on each side of 

 the body. The other longitudinal lines 

 have become very faint. The caterpillars, 

 in their growth to maturity, shed their 

 skins several times and change in color 

 during these molts. Just after the fourth 

 and last molt the head and body are 

 light red but soon turn dark. The cater- 

 pillars have the curious and interesting 

 habit of leaving their feeding places in 

 the branches and crawling down the 

 trunk of the tree, where in a close mass 

 they shed their skins for the last time. 

 The masses of cast-off skins may be seen 

 clinging to the tree trunks late in the 

 autumn. 



When very young, the caterpillars eat 

 on one side of the leaf only, but as they 

 grow and molt they begin devouring the 

 whole leaf, except the large ribs, and 

 later these are also eaten, thus com- 

 pletely destroying the leaf. Young pecan 

 trees are often completely defoliated by 

 this caterpillar. 



The caterpillars, like those of the fall 

 web worm, feed in colonies but do not 

 spin large, conspicuous webs. As they 

 near maturity they may be seen wander- 

 ing singly over the trees, but this is only 

 for a very short time. After the larvae 

 have crawled down the trunk and shed 

 their skins for the last time, they crawl 

 back up the tree and feed for a little 

 while and then each caterpillar starts 

 down the tree trunk to enter the ground 

 to pupate. They go into the earth to a 

 depth of four or five or even six inches, 

 form a small earthen cell and there 

 change to pupae. 



The eggs are laid in batches of 400 to 

 800 or even more on the under side of 

 the leaves. This habit is very similar to 

 that of the fall web worm. The eggs of 

 the pecan leaf caterpillar are at first of 



a light green color but later become per- 

 fectly white. They hatch in five or six 

 days. 



Larvae 



Already described. The caterpillars 

 take about three weeks to complete their 

 growth. 



Pupae 



As already stated the pupae are formed 

 in the ground and the summer broods 

 remain there about two weeks, while the 

 fall brood remains there all winter. 



Adult 



The adult moth of Datana integerrima 

 has a wing expanse of one and three- 

 quarter inches. It is buff in color and 

 the fore wings have four brown trans- 

 verse stripes on them 



Remedies 



Whenever eggs are found they should 

 be destroyed unless we are sure they are 

 parasitized. If they are infested with 

 parasites, they should be left alone in 

 order that the parasites may develop. 



The caterpillar may be destroyed in 

 considerable numbers, if watched rather 

 closely, when they descend the trunk to 

 cast their skins. Of course they will by 

 this time have done most of their feed- 

 ing, but nevertheless it is important that 

 they be destroyed in order to prevent a 

 larger future brood. 



Finally, there remains the application 

 of some arsenical poison. 



Live-Oak Boot Borer 



Matlodon meJanopus Linn. 



The larvae of this beetle are very com- 

 mon as borers in certain parts of the 

 south, especially in Georgia and Florida, 

 on roots of the live-oak. The eggs are 

 deposited in the foot or collar of the tree 

 just below the surface of the ground. 

 "The effect on the tree is to kill the 

 original sapling, which becomes replaced 

 by a cluster of insignificant and strag- 

 gling suckers, forming perhaps a small 

 clump of underbrush."* 



This insect is one of our largest beetles 

 and is from one and three-fourths to two 

 and a quarter inches in length and five- 



*Riley. 1884 Rept Div. Ento U. S 



