158 PLUM. 



sent me from the Toddington Fruit Grounds of the attack 

 occurring on Currant bushes growing beneath infested trees ; 

 and in the j'ear 1895 specimens of the Winter Moth cater- 

 pillar were sent me from near Kidderminster as "a sample of 

 the pest that we have been troubled with for the last two or 

 three years ; they devour both Gooseberries and Plum alike. 



The " Winter Moth " is not quite accurately described by 

 either of its English names, for though it may be found in 

 great numbers still going up the trees towards the end of 

 November, yet precautions against it (if they are to be of real 

 service) should be taken fully five weeks earlier ; and some 

 amount of appearance of the moths may occur about the end 

 of March. Also, although it is a notable pest in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Evesham, it is by no means confined to that 

 district. 



The male moths are from an inch to an inch and a quarter 

 in the spread of their fore wings, which are silky in texture, 

 and greyish or ochrey brown in colour, marked with several 

 indistinct wavy darker transverse lines or bands ; the hind 

 wings pale, and of a greyish white. 



The female moths are dusky grey, not absolutely wingless, 

 hnt Jurnislied merely with abortive wings too small to he of any 

 service in flying. The fore pairs are marked with two cross 

 streaks in each, the hinder pair with an indistinct streak. 

 The abdomen is very large in proportion to the fore body, 

 so as, with the long legs, to give the insect very much the 

 appearance of a spider. 



About the middle of October (one of the earliest observations 

 of capture sent to me was on the 17th of the month) the 

 female Winter Moths come out from the chrysalis cases be- 

 neath the trees, where they developed from the caterpillars 

 that went down iu summer, and creep up the stems to lay 

 their eggs. The moths are most active from sunset, or rather 

 before it, till late in the evening, and the males are stated to 

 appear a few daj^s before the females. If this is so, it would 

 be a convenient guide as to time being come for sticky 

 banding, an item of information much needed; for at present 

 observations taken at places at no great distance from each 

 other give a range of somewhere about a month in difference 

 in date of first appearance of the moths, and this with no 

 details to account for the variation. 



The female moth creeps up the tree and lays her eggs on 

 buds or twigs, or in crevices of the bark, and from an 

 enormous collection of trimmings from Pear trees (the result 

 of three men's work during three hours, sent me a little after 

 the lUth of March, 18U0, from Glewstone Court, near Eoss), 

 the moths had particularly selected the little furrow between 



