752 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
and enter Another tree. This is not ■ part of its accustomed line of action, and it 
could not recover from no rode ■ shock as robbery of its home. There would be 
no alts. .lute need ofborning the broken shoots, hut this might he done where there 
is any danger of their falling near seedlings, which it i-. possible the wandering out- 
OMtfl might enter J and it should certainly he done if the operation has to extend into 
.Inly, when the caterpillar might he ready to change to chrysalis, which it could do 
in it^ borrow whether the shoot w -re attached to the tree 01 fallen to the ground. 
since some more advanced caterpi ...- might as early as Jnne undergo soon trans- 
formation, doubtless the most thorough way would he to have the work finished 
before the end of June and to hum every broken shoot : to out off any snap 
shoot rather than to leave one affected, <>r even to remove every growing shoot.* 
Hut anything less radical than the means here suggested would be wasted labor. 
Leave them alone and the pine woods of Nantucket are doomed to destruction : to 
plant new Trees would be to add fuel to flames. There is do possible escape but in 
some radical and concerted action such as is here suggested; and This is possible 
only because of The isolation of Nantucket and the comparatively small extent of 
its little forest. Ten men, each armed with a pair of hedge shears and ladders of 
some sort, ought to accomplish it in the month. Whether it will " pay " is for the 
Nantucket people to decide. But if they will not do it, their next best plan is to cut 
down the eutire forest, sell the wood, and burn the brush, leaving not even a seed- 
ling anywhere ; then to pasture the sheep upon the spot for two years, and carefully 
destroy every seedling that springs up outside the fences which confine the sheep. 
After that it would be safe to plant again by seed. 
We add Professor Coinstock's notes on this insect : 
"About the middle of May, 1879, the scrub-piues (Piniis inoj)8) in Vir- 
ginia, near Washington, were found to be greatly injured by small 
lepidopterous larva?. On many trees there was scarcely a new shoot 
to be found which was not infested at its tip by from one to four yel- 
lowish black-headed caterpillars. They were so completely concealed 
while at work that their presence would scarcely be noticed, and the 
effect of their work was hardly visible until the twig was almost com- 
pletely destroyed. Upon close examination a delicate web was seen 
inclosing the base of the bud and the surrounding new leaflets, resem- 
bliug much the nest of a small spider. Wheu this web was removed 
one or several little yellow caterpillars were seen retreating into a mine 
*I am told by good botanists that the tree would probably recover from this 
Casarian operation, and it might be easier and more rapid than to select the affected 
shoots. It certainly would be safer. Dr. G. L. Goodale has called my attention to 
the following passage, which seems to him to indicate that the tree would survive: 
11 The pitch pine," says Smith, "differs from other trees of this family, itsstump throw- 
ing up sprouts the spring after the stem has been felled, but these do not attain any 
considerable height. The fallen trunk throws out sprouts in the succeeding summer ; 
and the bundles of leaves of both are remarkable for issuing from the axil of a single 
leaf in the same manner as in the young plant." — Michaux. N. Ainer. Sylva, vol. iii, 
pp. 89, 90, note (1853). 
Mr. George B. Emerson also says of the same tree: " Itsstump throws up sprouts 
the spring after the stem has been felled. These continue to flourish, with apparent 
vigor, for several years; but I have never seen them attain any considerable height. 
The fallen truuk itself throws out sprouts iu the succeediug summer; and the 
bundles of leaves of both are remarkable for issuing from the axil of a single leaf, in 
the same manner as is observed in the young plant." — Emerson, Trees and Shrubs of 
Mass., State ed., p. 73, 8vo, Boston, 1846. 
