220 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



that it had been struck with lightning. On cutting 

 into such branches, however, the cause was uniformly 

 found to be the ravages of the caterpillar of the 

 currant hawk-moth (Mgeriatipu/ifomiis, Stephens), 

 which abounds in the vicinity. But we have also 

 remarked that it only occasionally produces this 

 effect upon the trees ; for several bushes upon 

 which we have found old pupa-cases projectiug from 

 the bark remained healthy and uninjured.* Sir 

 Joseph Banks showed Mr. Kirby a currant branch 

 perforated by this caterpillar to the pith, and said the 

 size of the fruit was in consequence diminished. f 

 In Germany it is reported to destroy even large 

 bushes of the red currant. There can be no doubt 

 that the caterpillars of the goat-moth frequently de- 

 stroy willow, poplar, and oak-trees, of considerable 

 magnitude; but the mother-moth seems to prefer 

 laying her eggs upon those which have already be- 

 gun to decay. A black poplar-tree, not thicker than 

 a man's leg, and stripped on one side of more than 

 a foot of the bark, was bored by above a dozen cater- 

 pillars of the clear underwing {Algeria asiliformis, 

 Stephens), without seeming to have its growth at all 

 retarded.]: 



It does not appear that a minute moth, called by 

 Leeuwenhoeck, who writes its history, the wolf, and 

 by Haworth the mottled-woollen {Ph. Tinea granella, 

 LiNN^us), is so abundant in Britain as to do much 

 damage to the grain stored in granaries, upon which 

 it feeds. But it seems to have created considerable 

 alarm on the Continent. It has been found near 

 London, and may increase with us. The caterpillar, 

 which is smooth and white, ties together with silk 

 several grains of wheat, barley, rye, or oats, weaving 



* J. R. f Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 197. 



X See Ins. Archit., p. 192. 



ii 



