32 



1741 and again in 1748 the ravages were so vast as to be a national 

 calamity. Many suggestions have been put forward to account for 

 these occurrences, such as the absence of birds, especially lapwings, 

 prolonged periods of severe weather, which prevented birds getting 

 at the larvae, and so forth, but none of them appear to offer a 

 satisfactory explanation. 



The Geometers (Loopers) although not as a group harmful, 

 contain among their numbers one or two decidedly noxious species. 

 Cheiiiiatobia bnaiiata, L. (Winter Moth), as everyone knows, is the 

 bane of the fruit grower. The moth, or rather the male, for the 

 female is for all practical purposes wingless, flies in November and 

 December, and the eggs are deposited during those months on all 

 sorts of trees, including apple and pear. They hatch in April jast 

 as the trees are coming into leaf, and at once begin to feed indis- 

 criminately on leaf or blossom, and as they protect themselves by 

 spinning the leaves together, they are very difficult to get at, once 

 they have commenced to feed. When they are full-fed they descend 

 to the ground for pupation. Now, although the female cannot fly it 

 can run, and as soon as it comes out of the pupa it runs up the 

 stems of the trees, where it is sought by the male and pairing takes 

 place. To prevent this and thus check the attacks of the resultant 

 larvae, bands covered with " tanglefoot " or some other sticky material 

 are fastened around the stems of the trees a short distance above the 

 ground, so that as the females attempt to ascend they may be caught 

 by the sticky bands and thus prevented from doing any further 

 damage. That this method is always completely eft'ective, however, 

 appears to be open to some doubt, for Mr. Durrant informs me 

 that he has often seen male and female in cop., the male flying up 

 to the high branches of the trees, with the female in tow as 

 passenger, thus evading the sticky bands. Hijheniia defoUavia, CI. 

 (Mottled Umber), another winter species of somewhat larger size, 

 which also has a wingless female, sometimes ably assists C. bnniiata 

 in its work of destruction, and as its life-histoiy is similar its pre- 

 vention needs similar treatment. 



Abrci.rcin (frossidariata, L. (Magpie), is sometimes sufficiently 

 common on currant-bushes to strip them of their leaves, thus 

 impoverishing the plant and thereby lessening its capabilities of 

 cropping freely in the year after the attack. The larvae are full-fed 

 in June and are then easily seen, somewhat brilliantly coloured 

 creatures in white, black and yellow, looping along the twigs or the 

 edges of the leaves. They are not beloved of birds, but are liable to 

 the attacks of the same parasitic fly as those of F'ieris brassicae, L., 

 and some others ; the only really efficient means of dealing with 

 them is by picking them oil" the bushes by hand and destroying them. 

 Tliatnno)i()}ua rai(aria,h. (V. Moth), which has a mottled greyish larva 

 of somewhat smaller size, also attacks gooseberries and currants in a 

 similar way, and may be dealt with in a like manner. 



