laying. On twigs and on weeds where a narrow surface must be utilized, the clusters are much more elongated than on surfaces where lateral extension is possible. Again, owing to crowding of other females in the act of laying, or of disturbance, interruption, or peculiar conformation of the object upon which the insect is located, the egg clusters may assume various shapes, which may be described as "bunched," "elongated," "crooked," or "partially interrupted." When first laid the egg cluster is of a yellowish color, but after exposure to the elements for some time the color fades to a considerable extent. When the insect is numerous egg clusters are frequently laid on top of each other, and it is not an unusual occurrence to find dead females covered up by clusters laid by other females which commenced egg-laying after the earlier ones had completed the process.

The gypsy moth exercises but very little choice as to where its eggs shall be deposited. When the caterpillars are numerous they scatter a good deal toward the end of their period of growth, and in such cases one may expect to find the eggs in almost any conceivable place: under stones, rubbish and leaves, on the trunks and branches of trees, in bird nests, and under fence rails, etc. Last fall clusters were frequently found in large quantities by the workers in stovepipes, tin cans, and other rubbish on dump heaps.

As is partly indicated by its range, the eggs of the gypsy moth caterpillar are quite resistent to extremes in temperature. Experiments in Massachusetts have shown that clusters can be heated to from 130 to 140 degrees and that the eggs still hatch readily. Clusters were subjected to a temperature of 20 degrees below zero without any apparent diminution in the percentage of hatched eggs. Rapid changes between these extremes also seemed to have but little deleterious effect on the eggs.

Observations have indicated that the eggs of the gypsy moth hatch about a week or ten days earlier in this State than in Massachusetts. In Providence this year the first caterpillars were observed shortly after the middle of April. It takes from three to five days for all the eggs of a cluster to hatch, and the caterpillars remain

Egg clusters at the base of an oak tree between the railroad track and Benedict street in Cranston. This is but a small part of one tree in this locality, and there are caterpillars enough in the egg clusters on this single tree to strip all the trees in the neighborhood next summer.

grouped on the cluster for two or three days after hatching before they start out to seek food. At this time the young caterpillar is about onesixteenth of an inch in length, hairy, and with a relatively large black head. The first stage lasts from eight to ten days, after which it sheds its skin and increases somewhat in size and changes slightly in color. During its lifetime the caterpillar passes through six or seven such changes or moults. It changes in color each time, and of course becomes larger. Not until the fifth moult, however, do we get the characteristic markings by which anyone can distinguish it. At this time the caterpillar is of a dark ashen or mottled gray color and covered with dark brown and grayish hairs which grow from tubercles along the sides and back. Along the back are two rows of colored tubercles. The first five pair of these are blue, and the following six pair are crimson. The head is smaller and less prominent in comparison with the body than it was in the earlier stages, and is of a dark gray to black mottled color. The full-grown caterpillar measures from one and one-half to two and a quarter inches in length.

The caterpillar becomes full-grown in about ten weeks, and then usually seeks some partially protected place in which to spin a flimsy cocoon and change into a pupa. In this, as in the egg-laying, the insect shows the same carelessness in choice of location, and often chooses exposed sides of tree-trunks or the roughened bark on the under side of the larger branches. When the caterpillars are numerous they frequently migrate to rubbish in the region surrounding the infested trees and pupate in old tin cans, boxes, barrels, old stovepipes, etc., as has been indicated by the finding of egg clusters in these places. At this time the female pupa is usually much larger than the male and therefore readily distinguished. The pupa of both male and female are dark brown in color, with a few scattering yellow hairs, and to the uninitiated they may look a great deal like the pupa of many other moths. The insect remains in the chrysalid, or pupa stage, for ten or twelve days.

In the imago, or adult stage, the insects differ greatly, so much so, as compared with other insects, that it gave rise to the Latin specific

name of dispar. The male is much smaller and more slender bodied than the female, and flies actively in the daytime with a fluttering, zigzag motion. In size it measures about one and one-half inches across the wings. In color it varies from a light to a dark brown, with irregular, more or less broken markings of a darker shade across the forewings. The hind wings are a little lighter in shade than the forewings and not so distinctly marked. Along the outer edge of each wing is a border of lighter color interrupted by darker spots or blotches. The antennæ are quite prominent and feathery. The segments of the abdomen are marked with narrow bands of a slightly lighter shade than the ground color.

The female is white or creamy in color with dark bands or marking across the wings similar to those of the male. It measures about tw inches across the wings. Its body is much larger than that of t male and covered with hairs of a light yellowish color. The yell shade is darker and more pronounced on the under side and tow the tip of the abdomen. The antennæ are black in color and m smaller than those of the male. Although apparently supplied abundant wing surface, the female never uses her wings exce flutter a little and break her fall should she be dislodged from a tion some distance from the ground. On this characteristic female depends one of the reasons why it is possible to exter the gypsy moth in restricted localities. There is no possibility insect spreading by the flying female.

THE MEANS OF SPREADING.

Of itself the insect is spread principally by the migrati caterpillars from one place to another. This is usually unless the insects become so numerous as to destroy all foo In such cases the caterpillars will probably migrate for distance each year. Distribution in this way would be co slow at best and the greatest danger comes from the t

of the insects by

man and other agencies. It is probabl

passing through woods infested with the gypsy moth