31 
caterpillar is velvety black above, the sides have two yellow stripes, 
and between them are many blackish patches and dots. The 3^ellowish 
or brownish hairs are mostly in tufts which arise from tubercles or 
warts. Some specimens are quite pale; others very dark. In Septem- 
ber or October the caterpillar is ready to pupate, and descends to the 
main branches or trunk of the tree. Here it makes a delicate cocoon, 
within which it changes to a chrysalis. The insect passes the winter 
in this stage, and the moth emerges the following spring. The latter 
has white, sometimes spotted wings, and expands about an inch and a 
half. There is but one brood each year in the North, but from New 
York city south there are two broods, the caterpillars of the second 
making their appearance in August. 
THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 
(Euproctis chrysorrhea Linn. — fig. 21.) 
This insect, at present confined to certain parts of eastern Massa- 
chusetts, is such a dangerous pest that all interested in nursery trade 
Fig. 21. — Euproctis chrysorrhea. Moths, larvse, and cocoons. (Howard.) 
should be able to recognize it. During winter their small but very 
compact webs or nests attached to the terminal twigs are very promi- 
nent objects and will aid in distinguishing the species. In midsummer 
the eggs may be found in patches of two or three hundred attached 
to the under side of a leaf near the tip of a branch. The egg mass is 
covered by a dense layer of brown hairs from the tip of the abdomen 
of the female. The young hatch in August and eat the surface of 
the leaf. As soon as it is devoured they draw another leaf to it, until 
