The larvae of several moths and butterflies are collectively referred to as tent caterpillars. The name is applied especially to Malacosoma Americana, known as the eastern tent caterpillar and sometimes as the apple tent caterpillar. Tent caterpillars multiply rapidly and can defoliate many deciduous trees and shrubs over a wide area in a short time. Wild cherry trees and apple trees are most often attacked; peach, pear, plum, rose, hawthorn, and various shade and forest trees are occasionally infested. In spring the pests’ unsightly nests, or tents, are conspicuous on susceptible trees by the roadside or in neglected orchards. These caterpillars are abundant and troublesome for several years in a row. The}, often eat all the leaves on a tree, weakening but seldom killing it. Once the caterpillars mature in early summer they cause no further feeding damage