LEPIDOPTERA. 



231 



cross-lines, whicli arc very variable in pattern. The liind wings are of 

 a uniform dark-grey, being fringed with light pale-grey cilite. Head 

 and thorax a pale-yellow colour ; antennae brownish ; eyes black ; 

 abdomen dark-grey. 



The larva is from 6 to 7 lines long, dark-brown in colour. Head 

 and thorax black ; legs small and black, very sluggish. 



The pupa is about 5 lines long. The head, thorax, and wing-cases 

 are a dark-brown colour, and the abdomen a light-chestnut colour. 



As regards the life-history, the moths appear about the end of July, 

 and deposit their eggs at the tip end of the shoots. 'I'he larvae hatch 

 out late in summer, and gnaw the side of a bud, so as to cause a flow 

 of resin, which covers the caterpillar over for the winter, and here 

 they hibernate. In spring they wake up, attack the leading bud, giv- 

 ing rise to the injuries already referred to, and feed till about the 

 latter end of June or beginning of July. They pupate within the 

 infested shoots, and the pupal stage lasts from ten to fourteen days. 



With regard to remedies, very 

 little can be done except pick the 

 injured shoots, together with the 

 incased larva or pupa, about the 

 middle of June, and then destroy 

 the same. This would have the 

 eff"ect of diminishing tlie attack for 

 the following year. The moths 

 may be found lodging in the young 

 shoots, and if collected shortly after 

 hatching out, egg -laying might be 

 checked. 



Eetixia resixella, L. 



This insect is said to be confined 

 to certain localities in the north 

 of Scotland, and the only time 1 

 have ever seen it in numbers was in 

 Belgium in 1905. There is no mistaking it when seen, as it is simply 

 a large gall of solid resin on the shoots of Scots pine at a spot repre- 

 senting what practical men would term the commencement of the 

 growth the year before last (fig. 228). This s^jot at once suggests an 



Fig. 228. — r,V(H ((/-rrsuf niiScotapi} 

 causal by Retiiiia resinella. 



