THE PAINTED APPLE MOTH. 95 



CHAPTER LIV. 



THE PAINTED APPLE MOTH. 



( Tela aiiartoides^ Walk. ) 



Order : Lepidoptera. Family : Liparidce. 



This pretty little moth, which of late years has been 

 doing great damage to many of our fruit trees, apples 

 especially, by eating the epidermis, or surface of the 

 leaves, is a native of the colony, and is another example 

 of an insect having forsaken its natural food for the pur- 

 pose of attacking our introduced fruit trees. 



In a very able article written by Mr. Froggatt, in the 

 Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, November 

 1896, Part II., and bearing the title "Forest Moths that 

 have become Orchard and Garden Pests," this moth and 

 its depredations are treated in a very clear and exhaustive 

 manner, and as the views and experiences of the writer 

 agree exactly with those which have come under my own 

 observation, I have given the greater portion of his re- 

 marks, as folloAVs : — " The caterpillar of this handsome 

 moth is one of the most destructive creatures to be found 

 about Sydney, and is common all over New South Wales 

 and Victoria. In its native state it feeds upon the foliage 

 of many kinds of wattles, especially the Black Wattle 

 {Acacia decurrens)^ but is now almost omnivorous in its 

 habits. I have received specimens from Armidale, where 

 the caterpillars have completely stripped cherry trees 

 of their leaves in several orchards. In gardens around 

 Sydney it has attacked the foliage of roses and pelar- 

 goniums. From Mr. H. G. Smith, of Tempo, I have 

 received several branches of the Golden Wattle {Acacia 

 pycnantlia^ swarming with these hairy little caterpillars, 

 which had eaten oif the upper part of the leaves, and 



