From late summer through winter shiny, bronze capsules of hardened foam encircle cherry twigs.

    These are the egg cases of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar, “Malacasoma americana”, family “Lasiocampidae”.    In the days before the first cherry leaves emerge, the encased eggs hatch.

    At night the small caterpillars leave the nest to feed.  Each is attached to a silk “life-line” that it follows back before daylight.

    As the caterpillars grow and the nest fills with waste, the “tent worms” cover their shelter with a new silk sheet.

    When they are nearly full-sized, the caterpillars abandon the family tent and go off on their own.

    They come out of their silken cocoon in June.