14 THE BROWX-TAIL MOTH. 



lieving, doubtless, that in emergencies works are as neces- 

 sary as faith, the town fathers oftered a shilling per bushel 

 for the caterpillar webs. These latter were cut off and 

 burned ' ' under the inspection of the chui'ch wardens, over- 

 seers or beadle of the parish ; at the first onset of this busi- 

 ness, four score bushels, as I am credibly informed, were 

 collected in one day, in the parish of Clapham " (Curtis). 



Olivier, in 1790, mentions the insect as very common in 

 the neighborhood of Paris, where it feeds "indifferently on 

 all fruit trees and on nearly all other trees ; one finds them 

 as frequently in the forests as in the gardens." 



Writing in 1803, Ilaworth, "Le{)idoptera Britannica," p. 

 109, states that "the caterpillars of this insect have some- 

 times become so exceedingly numerous as to do incredible 

 damage to the vegetable kingdom," and refers to the historic 

 outbreak at London in 1782. Donovan, in his "British 

 Insects," Vol. XYL, pp. 39-45, 1813, gives a good general 

 account of the habits and damage by the insect, and quotes 

 freely from Curtis's pamphlet on the moth, — a work that has 

 now become very rare. Bechstein, in " Forst u. Jagdw.,'" 

 4th, 2 Bd, 1818, describes the moth under the name of "white 

 thorn spinner,'' from its habit of attacking this slirub. He 

 writes: " It is said that these caterpillars have devastated 

 whole areas of forest, particularly oak wood lands. They 

 are most injurious in the fruit garden." He notes that the 

 cater})illars " in the spring gnaw the buds, blossoms and 

 leaves, and strip even the second croj) of leaves from the 

 tree. They also destroy the fruit, and make the tree sickly 

 through sap exhaustion." 



J. B. Godart, "Hist, Nat. des Lcpidopteres," Vol. 4, p. 

 273, 1822, comments on the law which recjuired French 

 property owners to clear their trees of the winter webs, 

 and expresses the belief that a better plan would be "to 

 destroy the clusters of eggs immediatel}" after they are laid," 

 — a method which is of course wholh- impracticable where 

 large trees are infested. Blumcnbach, 1825, considered this 

 insect " one of the most destructive caterpillars to fruit trees ;" 

 while four years later, ]\I. Walhier, ".Vnn. Soc. Ilort.,'" Paris, 

 Vol. 4, found the caterpillars causing severe damage through- 



