146 The Irish Naturalist. July, 



Destruction of Cherry Trees by Semasia woeberiana. 



Last year my gardener having called my attention to what he called 

 "canker " in one or two cherry trees, I found the injury to proceed from 

 the ravages of a wood-boring lepidopterous larva which I failed satisfac- 

 torily to identify, and suspected that they must be either Sesia culciformis 

 or S. myopiformis. But in the first week of this present month of June I 

 was at Berkhamsted, Herts., and examined a standard cherry which was 

 thus affected, and every morning found freshly emerged imagines of 

 Semasia wctbenana, as well as pupa cases newly extruded. On excavating 

 some galleries in the unsightly swelling that disfigured the tree, I dis- 

 covered that though shallow, the)' penetrated the wood itself, and were 

 not confined solely to the cortex and cambium. 



Any pupae I found were spun up in slight cocoons with grass inter- 

 woven, outside of the opening of the borings. It is easy to detect a 

 colony of these moths by the abnormal growth which the injuries give 

 rise to. The bark dies and curls up and outwards in strips, and masses 

 of gum exude, the cambium swelling out in wart-like excrescences, 

 which result in the trunk or stem becoming tumid and disfigured ; and 

 eventually the tree or that part of it above the swelling dies. It would 

 seem that if the stems which are showing signs of being attacked were 

 painted over about 1st June with some mixture containing tar and 

 paraffin in safe proportion, the moths would be prevented from laying 

 their ova, and the evil might be arrested. 



Wm. Fras. de V. Kane. 



Drumreaske, Monaghan. 



White Wagtail at Bartragh, Co. Mayo. 



On the I2th of May, Captain Kirkwood saw a pair of Motacilla alba on 

 a damp sandy flat near the garden at Bartragh, and on the 20th Mr. A. 

 C. Kirkwood saw a solitary bird on the lawn outside the parlour windows. 

 From the fact that this Wagtail has, during the migratory months of 

 April and May, been seen in 189S, 1899, 1900, and 1901, and specimens 

 obtained in the two first-named years, it may be safely assumed that this 

 species, regularly every season, passes over Bartragh Island on its 

 northern journey— probably to Iceland. As far back as April, 1851, I 

 obtained a specimen on the Island of Bartragh, and on the 29th of April, 

 1893, I met a pair on the sandy flat outside the garden (where Captain 

 Kirkwood saw them this season), and shot one bird, the other escaping 

 and flying right off the Island. I have no doubt but, if a sharp look 

 out was kept in April and Ma) r , these birds would be seen every season ; 

 but, very unfortunately and so much to be regretted, the state of health 

 of my old and valued friend Mr. A. C. Kirkwood prevents his keeping 

 that close observation of all visitors to the Island that he usually did, 

 and so the visits of the White Wagtail are often unnoticed. 



Robert Warren, 

 Moyview, Ballina. 



