28 



APPLE. 



remain sheltered under the patch of gum during the winter, 

 and do notcome out till the leaves begin to unfold in spring. 

 Then it is stated (see ' Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.,' vol. i. p. 22) 

 that they burrow into the young leaves and feed on the soft 

 matter within, until they are strong enough to eat straight- 

 forward at the whole leaf, when they come out from their 

 workings and thus make their appearance suddenly in large 

 numbers where none have been noticeable just before. This 

 part of the attack I have never myself seen, but (without 

 going into minute details of their earliest life) in the spring or 

 early summer the caterpillars appear on the leafage of the 

 attacked trees, and these continue feeding on the leaves and 

 spinning webs, in which they live together in large companies, 

 until, in severe attacks, the hedge or tree infested is stripped 

 of its foliage, and left hung over with a kind of sheeting of 

 the dirty ragged remains of their deserted webs. 



When full-fed each caterpillar spins a light cocoon, in 

 which it changes to the chrysalis inside the general ivch. The 

 Small Ermine Moth caterpillars are of a dirty ash or ashy 

 white colour, spotted with black ; when full-grown, the ground 

 colour is dirty yellow or lead-colour. 



The moths, which come out towards the end of June, are 

 about three-quarters of an inch in expanse. The fore wings 

 are usually livid or whitish, dotted with black; the hind 

 wings livid or lead-colour ; but they are very variable. 



The kind or variety figured (p. 27), of which the moths are 

 distinguishable by the fore wings having the black spots on a 

 pure white ground, and by the cocoons being opaque, was at 

 one time considered more especially to frequent the Apple, 

 and was especially distinguished as Hyponomeuta malivorella, 

 or " Small Apple Ermine Moth " ; but for all practical pur- 

 poses the treatment of the attacks (whether there may be a 

 slight difference in the nature of the "Small Ermines" or 

 not) may be considered together. 



Prevention and Eemedies. — As the caterpillars of this 

 moth turn to chrysalids in cocoons in their large nests or 

 masses of web, the simplest method of prevention of future 

 attack is to cut off these webs and destroy them with the 

 cocoons within ; also, in an earlier stage, if the w^eb-nests, 

 full of caterpillars, can be cut off into a pail of anything that 

 will destroy them (as recommended with regard to Lackey 

 Moth), or if they can be shaken down and destroyed, this is 

 very desirable ; but where the ragged webs and small parties 

 of caterpillars are widely distributed over a tree, it is very 

 difficult to manage these arrangements. Where a party of 

 caterpillars are collected together on a bough where the mass 



