172 
HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 
a board or overhanging piece of bark or in any nook or 
cranny it settles and spins, in the course of a day or two, a 
dense white cocoon, often of a yellowish color, ■which is much 
like that of the common Chinese silk worm, except that it is 
more pointed at the ends. Our tent caterpillar is not a 
remote ally of the silk worm, belonging to the same natural 
family. The supply of silk is by no means exhausted after 
it spins its cocoon, for if it be removed from its silky house, 
after a few hours it surrounds itself by a fresh one, and even 
attempts a third if compelled to by the curiosity of the ex¬ 
perimenter. It remains in its cocoon through the remainder 
of the month, the moth appearing early in July, when it 
enters our rooms with a headlong flight, and dashes in a 
peculiar, confused manner upon the table. The moth is un¬ 
usually thick-bodied and hairy. It is reddish-brown, with 
two oblique, dirty white lines on the fore wings, and ex¬ 
pands about an inch and a quarter. 
The female immediately lays her eggs in a mass of three 
or four hundred, standing up side by side around a twig and 
covered by a gummy secretion. These bunches of eggs form 
conspicuous objects, and it is easy to pick them off after the 
leaves have fallen. Before the winter opens the embryo 
caterpillars are formed and lie in the egg shell all ready to 
hatch. In the spring they hatch out just as the leaves are 
beginning to unfold ; and it is curious to watch the habits of 
the young caterpillars as they gather in colonies and gradu¬ 
ally spin a silken tent in a fork of the branch. They lay 
down silken paths in every direction over the branches, 
over which they travel back and forth, their journeys becom¬ 
ing longer as the leaves disappear before their ravenous 
jaws. They work in the forenoon and afternoon in pleas- 
sant days, taking a siesta at noon, or in stormy weather 
huddle up together upon or under their silken canopy. This 
caterpillar, so large and conspicuous, is easily dealt with, as 
the nests can be easily removed by a brush or mop dipped 
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