Norwich bulletin., 1913-02-06
Brown Tail Moths.

| MT Editor; In the column of.Va- J rious Matters in recent number of 1 The Norwich Bulletin there appeared I a statement te the effect that brown 1 tail moths had been noticed just over l the Massachusetts border. indicating 1 the exceeding niidness of the current 1 winter. This letter is not written te criticise the item in question, though at l is obviously in error, but, fer the pur- pose of giving infeFaaaflen about the brown taH- moth, possibly the worst in sect pest of New England.
 It is the writer's most fervid hope l that the readers of The Bulletin may never have the occasion to cultivate any closer acquaintance with this insect than through printed sources As the writer has upon several occasions come 1 into close touch with the brown-tafl he could not wish for his worst enemy the torture that this insect is capable of affordfng.
 Mosquito bites are painful to some people and irritating to practically everyone Multiply a mosquito bite by one hundred and you will have the min inlum value of one spot of brown-tail
 rash. Multiply that one spot by from
 50 to 5000 and you will have a fair
 conception of what is meant by brown
 tall rash The torture is beyond des-
 criptien,-if one wishes to know more
 about it let him expose himself te the
 flying hairs of this moth.
 l H6 DfON H. lcil IIOll7 IS W0lI6 except
 for it's abdomen. This portion of the
 meth's body is beautiful seal brown
 the eeler similarity to seal-skin brown
 being emphasized by the soft, veIvety
 texture of the abdominal coat This furry coat is made up of thousands of short hairs which easily dislodge and fly through the air with every breeze.
 When the female lays her eggs, this in
 the month of July, she brushes these hairs off laying them ever the cluster of eggs. Woe be the bird that swallows that egg cluster. Tabasce sauce would be mild.
 Thus amply guarded the egg cluster
 remains unharmed upon the twig for few days or weeks till in August it sends forth a host of tiny caterpillars. These caterpillars are also armed with poisonous hairs, but live together like little pigs without suffering any mutt ual harm. They find their way te the extremity of some twig and feed upon the outermost leaves. Their develop ment Is ast0nishingly slow. When autumn comes they are not much over one fourth of an inch in length with a diameter less than that of the lead in an ordinary pencil. The harmonious host build winter house for them selves with the leaves they have last been feeding upon, pulling these leaves together and binding all with count less thousands of fberlets. The re- suit is astonishingly tough, resembling good grade of soft leather In this shelter the caterpfilars pass the winter.
 It will thus be seen that no brown tail moths have been seen during the present winter No matter how mild the winter is the caterpiIlars always make the same preparation and as they must wait for the spring vegetation to furnish them food for further develop ment, obviously no moths of the species would be seen in the mildest of win ters- This statement is made in sci entific faith. If the moths were seen then they were seen.
 It is thus that the moths can he con trolled, for the little caterpillar houses can be shipped off during the winter months and burned. Anyone who has occasion to journey through Massa- chusetts during the winter months must have seen men at work in or chards and parks with pruning shears mounted upon long poles. No tree is apparently exempt from this moth, but It's fayorifes are apple cherry. oak, maple. Sometimes apple trees show hundreds of the nests tipping the bran ches all over the tree I have looked across a forest of naples and oaks and seen the surface of the tree-tops fairly grey in color because of the innumer- able nests.
 As soon as the leaves come out in l the spring the little caterpil1ars rouse | into activity and make a rapid growth, | reaching maturity in late June. Rough 1 cocOonS are spun upon and about the | trees. The moths emerge early in July, | exist for 8 few days, lay their eggs and | die At this season the air of infect 1 ed regions carries millions of the 1 poisonous barbs of the moths and these | lodging in the clothing, find their way 1 into the skin, where they set up the | hottest combination of itch sensations the world possibly affords. The rash | lasts from four days to one week, un- 1 less further infections prolong the trouble Some people are nearly l proof against infection. but few are So | blessed. Those who do suffer dread the 1