LEPIDOPTERA. 
374 
continued during the seven weeks of their life in the cater- 
pillar form. The trees, in those orchards and gardens where 
they have been suffered to breed for a succession of years, 
become prematurely old, in consequence of the efforts they 
vare obliged to make to repair, at an unseasonable time, the 
loss of their foliage, and are rendered unfruitful, and con- 
sequently unprofitable. But this is not all ; these pernicious 
insects spread in every direction, from the trees of the care- 
less and indolent to those of their more careful and indus- 
trious neighbors, whose labors are thereby greatly increased, 
and have to be followed up year after year, without any 
prospect of permanent relief. 
Many methods and receipts for the destruction of these 
insects have been published and recommended, but have 
failed to exterminate them, and indeed have done but little 
to lessen their numbers, as, indeed, might be expected from 
the tenor of the foregoing remarks. In order to be com- 
pletely successful, they must he universally adopted. These 
means comprehend both the destruction of the eggs and of 
the caterpillars. The eggs are to be sought for in the win- 
ter and the early part of spring, when there are no leaves 
on the trees. They are easily discovered at this time, and 
may be removed with the thumb-nail and forefinger. Nur- 
series and the lower limbs of large trees may thus be entirely 
cleared of the clusters of eggs during a few visits made at 
the proper season. It is well known that the caterpillars 
come out to feed twice during the daytime, namely, in the 
forenoon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave their nests 
before nine in the morning, and return to them again at 
noon. During the early part of the season, while the nests 
are small, and the caterpillars young and tender, and at 
those hours when the insects are gathered together within 
their common habitation, they may be effectually destroyed 
by crushing them by hand in the nests. A brush, somewhat 
like a bottle-brush, fixed to a long handle, as recommended 
by the late Colonel Pickering, or, for the want thereof, a 
