112 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE. 



Fig. 110. 



are easily disturbed, and on the slightest alarm drop to the 

 ground for protection. 



The eggs are usually deposited on the under side of the 

 limbs, near the tops of the trees, in patches, consisting often 

 of many hundreds, arranged in roAvs closely crowded together. 

 They are smooth, irregularly ovoid, slightly flattened on the 

 sides, rounded at the bottom, while the top is depressed, 

 with a whitish rim or edge, forming a perfect oval ring. The 

 egg hatches about the 1st of May. 



The caterpillar (Fig. 110) is dark brown, with a large red 

 head; the terminal segment is also red. It lives in this 



stage about forty days, and then changes 

 to a chrysalis, in which condition it re- 

 mains about ten days, when the moth 

 escapes. This insect, when very abun- 

 dant, devours the leaves of almost every 

 variety of tree, bush, and shrub. 



Where abundant, they may be poisoned, and the orchard 

 protected, by syringing the trees with Paris-green and water, 

 in the proportion of a teaspoonful of the poison to two gallons 

 of water. 



No. 48.— The Hag-Moth Caterpillar. 

 Phobetron pithecium (Sm. & Abb.). 



The caterpillar of this moth is a curious, slug-like creature, 

 of a dark-brown color, flattened, oblong, or nearly square in 



form, with curious, fleshy append- 

 ages protruding from the sides of 

 its body. The three middle ones are 

 longest, measuring about half an 

 inch long, and have their ends 

 curved. When this larva is handled, 

 the fleshy horns become detached, 

 and when spinning its cocoon it 

 detaches them and fastens them to 

 the outside. Fig. Ill gives a side view as well as a back view 

 of this larva. It feeds on the cherry as well as the apple. 



Fig. 111. 



