ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 221 



to be seen in the month of July of those years without a leaf 

 upon them — as bare, in fact, as though in mid-winter. Every leaf, 

 every bud, every blossom, had been cleared off by innumerable 

 swarms of Ermine moth caterpillars, which had not only entirely 

 destroyed the crop for the season, but had so seriously injured 

 and weakened the trees that they produced but very small and 

 poor crops in subsequent seasons. Again, in 1880, much damage 

 was done by the same insect. 



In 1877, the second of the above-named moths, the Codlin 

 moth, caused much mischief to the orchards of Kent, where, it 

 was estimated, about thirty per cent, of the apples fell immature 

 by reason of the maggot having penetrated to the core. And, 

 further, it was found that a large portion of the fruit that did 

 ripen would not keep from the same cause. As this moth spe- 

 cially attacks pippins and the choicest descriptions of dessert 

 apples, the pecuniary loss to the growers must have been very 

 large ; but as there are no official statistics it is not possible to 

 estimate the amount. In the cider-producing districts, the des- 

 truction of half the crop, which frequently takes place through the 

 ravages of these two insects, must represent a very heavy loss to 

 the farmers. Very frequently the above mischief is attributed 

 to the weather, to the east wind, to that all-embracing word when 

 used by the gardener, " Blight " ; but if the observers would look 

 closer and more accurately the true enemy might easily be dis- 

 covered. When a gardener, seeing one of his trees with all the 

 leaves shrivelled up, drawn together, and enveloped, as it were, in 

 cobweb, with the blossoms falling off before mature or not 

 opening at all, tells you in a mysterious manner that there is a 

 "blight in the air" or that the tree is "struck," he is only con- 

 fessing his ignorance and want of observation, and consequent 

 inability of taking such precautions as shall render a recurrence of 

 the misfortune unlikely or at any rate less severe. 



The limits of this paper and my lack of knowledge alike 

 render it impossible for me to attempt more than to describe a 

 very few of our insect foes ; but these that I shall now men- 

 tion will serve as a sample of the rest, and the consideration of 

 their life-histories will, to some extent, indicate the methods of 

 observation necessary for their study. As I have already said, 



