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18 
THE FALL WEB-WORM. 
(Hyphantria ( Spilosoma) textor , Harris.) 
Order of LEPIDOPTERA. Family of Artiidj-:. 
Harris’s Treatise, page 357 ; Fitch’s Report, No. 88. 
This is the caterpillar which disfigures with its web, often sev¬ 
eral feet in extent, both garden and forest trees in the latter part 
of the summer and tall. Like other caterpillars ot the family ot 
Arctians, to which both this and the preceding species belong^ 
they are very indiscriminate feeders. This is the more remaiK- 
jj able as the great majority of insects are very select in their diet, 
generally confining themselves to a single species of plant, or at 
most to plants of the same natural family. The Web-worm flour- 
ishes equally well upon the apple, pear, cherry, both wild and 
cultivated, shagbark and pignut hickory, black walnut, butternut, 
; elm, ash, and willow, and they bear to be transferred from one 
kind of tree to another with impunity. I have, this summer, 
changed them from the apple tree to the black walnut, and met 
versa , without their seeming to suffer any inconvenience. Theii 
range of diet however has its limits. I have tried the experiment 
of tying nests of these caterpillars upon the common locust, maple 
currant and rose bushes, and grape vine. In all these cases th< 
caterpillars expended their web a short distance, but ate but little 
and in no case came to maturity. 
When young they eat only the upper surface of the leaves, bu 
when more mature they devour the whole leaf except the large 
ribs. They are active caterpillars, and when disturbed, have 
habit, especially when young, of showing their dissatisfaction b; 
snapping their heads from one side to another. They do not craw 
upon the branches like the Tent-caterpillar, but travel along th 
threads of which their webs are composed. They inclose withi 
their nests the leaves upon which they feed, extending their we 
from branch to branch as their necessities require. Late in th 
season these nests attain a great size, and where there happens t 
be a number of them on one tree, they will sometimes almost cove 
a tree of moderate dimensions. A nest of these insects upon a 
apple tree in my garden, the present season, which I left unm< 
lested for the purpose of observing their habits, attained an extei 
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