Nearly every one has seen the "tents" of these in neglected trees. See
fig. 5. They usually betoken the too busy man--the man with too many
irons in the fire. They are large, unsightly bunches of webs, closely
woven together at the forks of twigs at the ends of limbs or branches.
The parents of these worms are moths (see fig. 6) which appear in June
each year, and deposit their eggs in clusters containing two or three
hundred, surrounding small twigs. See fig. 7. Sharp eyes, a sharp knife
and nimble fingers will bring many to the kitchen fire. These eggs hatch
in the warm days of spring, and the tiny worms immediately seek and
devour the tender buds and leaves. The day they hatch they begin to
build the "tent." Those from the same mass of eggs, say 250, combine to
make the home nest or tent. They come out from this tent to feed in the
morning, return for a _siesta_ or sleep, and emerge again in the
afternoon for a second feed.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. Tent with larvae.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6. Adult.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8. Tent-caterpillar.]
They live in this way four or five weeks, becoming, when full grown,
about two inches long and nearly as large as a lead-pencil. See fig. 8.
They are black, with light-colored tufts of hair on the back. Down the
center of the back is a white line bordered with irregular yellowish
lines. The sides of the body are marked with pale blue, while the under
side of the worm is black. When grown they pass to the ground and hunt a
sheltered place, where they spin a cocoon, from which, in about three
weeks, emerges the adult moth, fig. 6, the color of which varies from
yellowish to reddish brown. The front wings each contain two oblique,
whitish lines, dividing the wing into three nearly equal parts. These
moths are night flyers during the last half of June and first half of
July. They eat nothing. The female lays her eggs as described, and dies.
_Remedies._ Spare the birds; put up boxes for the bats and owls. Cut off
the egg clusters during the winter. Cut and burn the tents, or burn the
tents on the tree, with any kind of a torch. Early morning or late
evening is the time, as they are then all home. Spray the foliage
nearest the tents with solutions for canker-worm.