160 PLUM. 



given by Mr. Garrood's specimens, clearly known to be eggs 

 laid in confinement by isolated specimens of Winter Moths, 

 we make the great step onwards of being able to distinguish 

 whether there is infestation of this kind present on the boughs, 

 and to prepare accordingly. 



With the guidance given by these specimens, I examined 

 portions of the very large collection of egg- infested cuttings 

 from Pears above alluded to, kindly placed in my hands by 

 Mr. C. Lee Campbell, and found the eggs to be precisely 

 similar in every respect. The eye was similarly attracted by 

 the little bright or whitish mould-like spots, and (similarly) I 

 fomid empty egg-shells, and greenish eggs and some still 

 reddish. The eggs had similar inequalities on the surface, 

 and the little looper caterpillars were similar in appearance, 

 and, though hardly the sixteenth of an inch in length, were 

 when disturbed already able to spin a thread to attach them- 

 selves by. 



A few days later — on the 31st of March — I found many of 

 this collection of eggs were changed from the reddish colour 

 to a variable iridescent tint, grey or bluish, or occasionally 

 greenish, according as the light fell upon them. 



One of these eggs I punctured, and watched the caterpillar 

 emerge ; and this larva, and another that I watched in natural 

 process of emerging, appeared to me indistinguishable from 

 young Winter Moth caterpillars ; and at this date I found 

 many little caterpillars, apparently almost all little Winter 

 Moth grubs, on the paper on which I threw out the twigs, 

 these varying in tint, as is frequently the case with this 

 variable kind. Some were of different shades of greyish or 

 greenish grey, and one little larva was almost black. 



This kind of caterpillar is described by Edw. Newman, in 

 bis 'British Moths,' as being very variable, sometimes green, 

 sometimes smoky brown, sometimes approaching to blackish. 



They not only are variable in colour one from another, 

 but they also change in appearance after each moult. The 

 following is just a short general note of these changes, taken 

 from Dr. Taschenberg's more detailed description.* 



When hatched they are greyish, afterwards of a yellowish 

 green, faintly striped with white along the back, and with 

 dark head and mark on the neck. Afterwards the dark colour 

 is thrown off, the green is of a clearer tint, and the white 

 stripes plainer, and after the last moult the caterpillars are of 

 a yellower green, with a light brown shining head. A stripe 



* For good accounts of the life-history of the Winter Moth see ' Praktische 

 Insektenkunde,' by Dr. Taschenberg ; Hkewise the account in 'British Moths,' 

 by Edw. Newman, and likewise that given in Kollar's ' Insects Injurious to 

 Gardeners, Foresters, &c.' 



