28 



NOTES OF THE YEAR. 



BY WM. SAUNDERS, LOx\DON, ONT. 



The forest Tent Caterpillar {Clisiocampa sylvatica). 



These troublesome caterpillars (see Fig. 5) have again been very abundant in the 

 western section .of our Province, and early in June when nearly full grown they fed 

 Fig. s. with such energy as to greatly damage the foliage of 



both fruit and forest trees, and became, quite a terror 

 to many. They travel with such rapidity from place to 

 place that small trees^entirely cleaned one day may be 

 swarming with them the next, and where such trees 

 have been newly planted and have made but small 

 growth, a single day's neglect may result in the loss 

 of the entire foliage which would greatly jeopardize, if not entirely destroy the life of 

 such specimens. There are many pains-taking cultivators of both fruit and ornamental 

 trees who are attentive to their plantations and make it a point to visit them regularly 

 and to destroy all the caterpillars they can find, but who are greatly perplexed and dis- 

 couraged by the repeated and continued invasions they are subject to from the hosts of 

 these hungry larvae which swarm in the neglected orchards of careless neighbours and also 

 among the forest trees in the woods. To meet such cases the following simple and inex- 

 pensive remedy is suggested — it has been tried and found to work admirably : Take a 

 roll of cotton batting, open it out and cut into strips about three inches wide and tie 

 one of these strips with a piece of twine tightly about the middle, to any part of the 

 trunk of the tree so as to entirely encircle it. In attempting to cross this barrier the 

 multitude of minute horny hooks which fringe the margins of the base of the thick fleshy 

 feet of the caterpillar become so entangled among the fibres of the cotton that further 

 progress is almost impracticable, and the hungry worm wishing to ascend will be found 

 walking disconsolately around and around the tree looking in vain for some way over the 

 difficult pass, as they have no means of getting into a tree other than that of craw- 

 ing up it. When once the trees are cleaned, this simple remedy is most eff'eetual in keep- 

 ing them so, and its use will result in a great saving of time and labour. 



When large trees are swarming with the caterpillars — a very common occurrence in 

 plentiful seasons — such should be visited every morning and thelarvae which are then con- 

 gregated in masses on the trunks destroyed, which may be readily done by the vigour- 

 ous use of a common broom. 



A large number of these larvae were destroyed this season by parasitic insects, many 

 also by birds and by an unusual disease which for a time seemed epidemic among them. 

 The survivors spun their silky cocoons in every available spot ; between the leaves of 

 trees and shrubs, in the corners of fences, the crevices in the rough bark of trees and 



other sheltered spots, and in a few days those 

 which were free from parasites gave birth to the 

 perfect moth, a female specimen of which is re- 

 presented in Fig. 6 (after Eiley), who speedily 

 sets about accomplishing the end of her being by 

 providing for a future generation. The well 

 known egg cluster is shown at a (Fig. 6), the 

 upper face of one of the eggs at c and the method 

 of their arrangement at d in the same figure. 



Some interesting observations have been 

 made within the past year on these eggs includ- 

 ing the discovery of a mite which devours many 

 of them — these were communicated in a paper 



