55 2 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Ugly nest cherry worm 



- Ar chips cerasivoraua Fitch 



Yellow, black-headed caterpillars about l /2 inch long, web together chokecheiry 

 leaves in midsummer. 



This common species is not of much economic importance because its 

 attacks rarely cause material injury, since they are so largely confined to 

 the comparatively valueless chokecherry. It occasionally feeds on the 

 cultivated cherry. Dr Lugger states that this species is sometimes so 

 abundant in Minnesota, that the larvae enclose entire trees with their 

 webs. It is sometimes extremely numerous in the province of Quebec, 

 though rarely causing material injury. 



Description. The full grown larvae are lemon yellow, clothed with 

 scanty, fine, yellowish hairs, and have the head, the prothoracic shield, the 

 anal shield and true legs black, the mouth parts being brown. 



The moths vary greatly in size, having a wing spread ranging from 4/ s 

 to \ Vs inches. The wings are broad, the outer edge being rounded toward 

 the base and straight from the middle to the tip. They are crossed by 

 irregular, wavy bands, alternately of bright ocher yellow and pale leaden 

 blue. The yellow bands are varied with darker spots, the most conspicuous 

 of which is placed on the outer margin of the tip, and from this spot a 

 broader ocher yellow band extends toward the hind angle and curves 

 thence to the inner angle. The hind wings and the entire under surface 

 are pale ocher yellow. 



Life history. The dense web nests of this species are rather common 

 the latter part of June, the larvae transforming to pupae early in July 

 The interior of the nest at this time contains large black masses composed 

 of larval excrement, among which the larvae spin their cocoons and trans- 

 form to pupae. The moths emerge during July, and prior to the disclosure 

 of the adults, the pupae wriggle partly out of the nest, so that after the 

 escape of the insects, empty pupal cases may be seen projecting there- 

 from. The eggs have not been observed. Professors Comstock and 



o O 



Slingerland are of the opinion that the eggs are deposited in clusters on a 



