234 



^OUENAL OF HOIttlCULTUEEi AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ lUrch 14, im. 



Depressaiia, these having a fancy for retreating into tlic 

 shelter of thatch when the weather is cold. 



These Uttle fellows, sometimes callccl "Flat-bodies" iu our 

 vernacular, are amongst the pigmies of the moth tribe, the 

 largest of them scarcely measuring an inch when its wings are 

 fully expanded. The cateiiJUlars are of course small, though 

 better known than the perfect insects, from the great Bh3'uess 

 of the latter. These cateiijillars are particularly remarkable 

 for the muscular power they possess, which seems out of all 

 jiroportiou to theu' size. They usually feed on leaves of plants, 

 or on flower-heads, constructing for themselves a habitation, 

 partly composed of silk. One species in particular may be 

 regarded as being of some interest to the gardener, which has 

 led me to introduce the genus to the reader's notice. This is 

 at present a scarce insect in England, but it is quite likely to 

 become more abundant at a future time through some change 

 in the circumstances which influence the development of insect 

 life. It occurs in Germany in various places, and even in the 

 cold regions of Sweden and Lapland. At BerUn, Herr Bintlie 

 reported some years ago that it was veiy injurious in the 

 gardens, the larva occmTing in multitudes on the umbels of 

 the Carrot. This species, Dejn-essuria ileprexgella for if we 

 transmute it into English, Uterallj-, the Flat-bodied Flat-body, 

 an inelegant doubling of the expression), is seldom seen 

 as a moth, but comes out on the wing iu the autumn, hides 

 away during the winter, and emerges in the spring to continue 

 its species. This had a pale yellow head and thorax, and 

 reddish-brown wings ; and a gi-ey abdomen, which is tufted. 

 The larvie, which more immediately concern the horticulturist, 

 are hatched during the summer, but are not frequently noticed 

 until about the end of July, when they are getting of some 

 size, and the umbels show signs of their presence by the dis- 

 coloration. They have an unpleasant trick, too, of partly 

 destroying one flower-head, and then marching off to attack 

 another. The silken lubes iu wliich they dwell are near the 

 surface, and out of these, when disturbed, the larva? wriggle 

 themselves very briskly. They are reddish-green with black 

 heads, and when they have eaten their fill spin for themselves 

 a closer sUken covering, in which they change to pupa!. The 

 species has been observed to frequent the flowers of- the Pars- 

 nip also. It is one which is not easy to deal with, for though 

 the lar-VtE may be easily shaken from the flower-heads, much of 

 the mischief is hkely to have been done ere they are detected. 

 The moths, like many others, dislike certain strong odoxus ; 

 and if the exact time of their' coming forth in the spring were 

 known, the plants might be fumigated, so as to destroy them 

 while depositing their eggs. 



If a person little acquainted with entomology' were asked, 

 when taking a winter walk in an orchard, in what condition 

 the hosts of insects were then, which he had before seen busUy 

 engaged in devoiu-ing the leaves, he would perhaps be mcUned 

 to answer, " In the egg." This, however, though tiiie of some, 

 is not true of all ; but the small fiat cocoon of the little moth 

 called Ornixjiittca might easily be supposed to be an egg of 

 some insect, and it may be occasionally detected in the angle 

 of some twig. Here the pupa remains dormant from autumn 

 till May or .Jime, when the small moths come out, and in their 

 moments of repose assume the peculiar attitude characteristic 

 in the fauiOy to which it belongs — that is to say, they elevate 

 their heads and fold their antennie back, jness the hindmost 

 pair of legs against the body, and extend the middle and 

 anterior pair sideways. Give one of these a gentle touch, and 

 it goes off with a hop, only to settle again almost dhectly iu 

 the same posture. The caterpillars of Ornix juttea, even if 

 numerous, could hariUy be said to be positively iujmious to 

 the Apple, but help, in conjunction with other species, to dis- 

 figm-e its leaves. This they do by turning down a portion of 

 the leaf at the edge, bending it under, and binding it down 

 with silk. The process is really a wonderful piece of iugeniuty, 

 when the small size of the species is considered. AVithin this 

 abode each catei-pUlar feeds seciu'ely, and at last the part of 

 the leaf thus treated turns brown ; for the caterpillar does not 

 eat through. Stainton observes that " in the under side of the 

 Apple leaf it produces a pecuhar wooUy dow-n, which is very 

 apparent when we attempt to open a leaf inhabited by the 

 larva!." In appearance it is transparent and yello\Yish, and it 

 occurs on the trees in July and August. 



It is rather amusing ^to us with our modem light to read 

 about the excessive alarm once caused by that abundant 

 species, the Gold-tail Moth {Liparis auriflua) ; at least it seems 

 that this was the species, though in the matter of names the 

 older entomologists leave us iu some uncertainty. Kir-by states 



that hi France, on the testimony of Mr. Curtis, who made a 

 study of this species, it was at one time so numerous ui the larva 

 state as to cause great alarm. " The Oaks, Elms, and White- 

 thorn hedges looked as if some burning wind had passed over 

 them, and dried up their' leaves. The caterpillars also laid 

 waste the fruit trees, and even devoured the fruit, so that the 

 parhament pubhshed an edict to compel people to collect and 

 destroy them ; but this would in a great measure have been 

 ineffectual had not some cold rains fallen, which so completely 

 annihilated them that it was difficult to meet with a single 

 iudi-i-idual." The conclusion of the story savours of the 

 apocryphal — at least, I can testify that the caterpillar of auri- 

 flua in this country is not killed or rendered veiy uncomfort- 

 able by " cold " or " rain," though it provides for itself a 

 security against the foi-mer by spinning a silken web in which 

 to pass the winter. Perhaps, however, those are light who 

 contend that the species in question was not the Gold-tail, but 

 the nearly allied Brown-tail (L. chrysorrhceal, not nearly so 

 common with us as is its relative, and occuriing sometimes 

 on the Sloe, leading to the supposition that it might transfer 

 itself to other species in the genus Prunus. Moreover, a recent 

 obseiTer has stated that he detected one of these feasting on 

 the fruit of the Bramble, and therefore it is poEsible a penchant 

 for sweets or sours may exist amongst tliese laivic ; but it 

 must be admitted, that though we think the Gold-tail as of 

 little consequence amongst injurious insects, we cannot tell 

 what its caterpillars might do if their most fi'equent food, the 

 Hawthorn, were to run short. I have no doubt they would 

 transfer themselves to other shrubs and trees, and I have 

 found them on various fruit trees, having straggled to them 

 from the hedges in the vicinity. Though a very common 

 species, it does not seem to be one showing any marked fluctua- 

 tions, and in numbers it is pretty uniform from year to year'. 

 According to Stainton it does not occur in Scotland. 



Both the species of which I have just waitten are marked by 

 a very unpleasant peculiarity while in their lai-val condition — 

 the hau's of the caterpillars have the power of mitating the 

 human sldn, iind producing either arash or asweUing, attended 

 with some pain. Not all persons, however, are thus affected, 

 and there are those who can sport with " Gold-tail " cater- 

 pillars with impunity, while others must not approach withui 

 a foot or two of a box in which they are kept. It has been 

 thought by some that this effect is not caused by the hairs, 

 but is due to some secretion thrown off by the caterpillars ; but 

 as this " urtication " is especially experienced during the time 

 that the cateipiUars are moulting or forming their cocoons — 

 that is, when there are loose hatis about them, it is more 

 natural to connect it with these. The Kev. J. S. Wood, who 

 complains bitterly of the aiinoj'ance they inflicted upon him, 

 remaiks, incidentally, that the caterpillar of the (iold-tail is 

 popularly called the " Palmer- worm." I must add that I have 

 not as yet met with a single instance in which this name was 

 apjihed to the species. 



iiuiiug the winter and early spring months, on examination 

 of the hedges, we may sometimes detect a brood of these eater- 

 pillars, which pass the winter in a common nest, which is con- 

 structed amongst the twigs, and composed of a tough silk, with 

 which occasionally a few dried leaves are intenningled. Kept 

 in confinement, however, caterpillars of airriflua show no 

 tendency to be sociable. Each retreats to some coraer of the 

 box, and spins a separate habitation of silk — first a loose outer 

 investiture, and then a smaller and closer cocoon within. 

 Having done this the skin is cast, and it remain:- quiet until 

 the Hawthorn buds are bursting forth into leaf. Common as 

 is the full-grown cateiijUlar, it is a beautiful creature. From 

 three rows of tubercles which run along each side there spring 

 tufts of hairs — black, red, and white ; a vermilion stripe passes 

 down the back, while on the fifth and sixth segments are 

 humps, and on the tenth and eleventh waxy round patches. 

 It is rather fond of displaying itself on the bushes whvn the 

 weather is bright. The moth appears iu July, and flies about 

 very languidly, being often seen iu the day on trunks of frets 

 or on palings. The females strip the down from the anal 

 extremity of then- bodies, and coat their eggs with it. These 

 are deposited in little heaps, mostly on the leaves, and hate h 

 out iu a ftw Weeks. Were this moth, and the Brown-tail its 

 relative, which is similar in its economy, ever to become 

 troublesome iu gardens, the best way to deal with it would be 

 by anticipation — that is, by seeking out the clusters of eggs, 

 which are pretty conspicuous. The perfect insects, also, from 

 then- white colour arc easily seen, and as easily caught ; but 

 when the caterpillars are abroad they could hardly be secured 



