30 
a common home, where they retire at night and remain during cloudy 
days. Each clear morning, at about 8 o'clock, they go out along the 
branches to the leaves for feeding. The amount of damage done will 
depend a great deal upon the number of tents upon the tree. The 
eggs are laid in masses of 200 or 300 arranged in a broad belt around 
the twig. (See fig. 19, c.) Each end of this belt tapers off to the twig, 
which character serves to distinguish it from similar egg-clusters of 
certain other moths. Each mass is covered with a glistening sub- 
stance that protects it from the rain. The young caterpillars hatch 
during the latter part of April or earl} 7 in May, at about the time 
when the leaves are expanding. They immediately begin to feed on 
the leaves near by and to unite them into their tent, which is enlarged 
as the caterpillars grow. The full-grown larva is nearly 2 inches long, 
hairy and black 
with a white stripe along the back. On each side of 
this is a row of short, yel- 
low streaks; there are also 
pale lines on the sides of the 
body. The under side is 
nearly black. When ready 
to pupate the caterpillar 
seeks some protected spot 
and there spins its yellowish 
cocoon, and soon changes 
to a brown chrysalis. The 
moth, which is brown, with 
oblique white bands across 
the forewings, emerges in 
a week or so and deposits 
her egg-mass and dies. 
There is but one brood a 
year. 
THE FALL WEB WO KM. 
(Hyphantria cunea Dru. — fig. 20. ) 
During the summer and 
early fall webs or tents sim- 
ilar to those of the apple- 
tree tent caterpillar are 
often seen among the terminal branches of fruit trees. These are the 
work of the fall webworm. The eggs of this moth, 300 to 500 in num- 
ber, are laid in patches on either side of the leaves in June. The larva' 
issue from June to August, and at once begin their web. They eat 
only the upper surface of the leaf, leaving the veins and the under 
surface untouched. The young caterpillar is pale yellowish, with dark 
spots along the sides and covered with scattered hairs. The full-grown 
Fig. 20. — Hyphantria cunea: moths and cocoons. (Howard). 
