160 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 3 



and padella were very abundant and destructive throughout France. 

 The species mahalebella is very cojnmon on the niahaleb cherry at 

 Fontenay, and during some seasons the wild cherries in the hedge- 

 rows were entirely defoliated. During 1897 and 1901, this species 

 was very abundant. Theobald^ regards malinella and padella as im- 

 portant pests in England. The former was very troublesome in this 

 country in 1865, 1877 and 1880, and during the first two named years 

 whole orchards were devastated, the foliage being as bare as midwin- 

 ter. The latter feeds normally on hawthorn, often quite defoliating 

 the hedgerows. Saracomenos" says that a large number of fruit trees 

 such as apple, pears and plums which are grown on an extensive scale 

 on the Island of Cyprus are attacked by malinella and padella. These 

 prove very injurious as they destroy the crops, and if they appear in 

 numbers for a series of years they may cause the death of the trees 

 themselves. The damage occasioned to apple and plum trees is always 

 great. Rebate and Bernes- report that outbreaks of padella occur 

 periodically. In 1843 in Lot and Garonne all trees were attacked but 

 in the following year the pe.st failed to appear. From 1867 to 1871, 

 in 1882 and again in 1888 considerable damage was done by the insect. 

 The outbreak of 1901 was followed by a more severe one in 1902, and 

 it was not till 1904 that the insect was under the control of its natural 

 enemies. During 1908 the caterpillars again increased to destructive 

 numbers, and as was predicted serious depredations occurred during 

 1909. It is feared that greater damage will be done by these pests 

 during 1910. Other writers comment in like manner on the destruc- 

 tive capacity of these insects. 



Life Histories and Habits. The life histories of the different 

 species are very similar. According to Marchal (1) the female 7nali- 

 nella deposits her eggs during July on small twigs in oval patches 

 about four or five millimeters in diameter. The eggs are covered with 

 a glutinous substance which is at first yellow, but which gradually 

 becomes brown, resembling the color of the bark. In each mass there 

 are from fifty to eighty eggs, which are placed in rows, overlapping 

 one another like tiles on a roof. Hatching takes place during 

 early autumn, but the tiny caterpillars remain sheltered through the 

 winter under the protecting crust of the egg mass. During the follow- 

 ing spring the young larvae abandon their hibernating quarters, and 

 enter the expanding buds, where they assemble in numbers between 

 the sepals of the calyx and petals of the blossom buds or between two 



= Theobald, F. V., lusect Pests of Fruit, pp. 86-91, 1908. 

 ' Saracomenos, D., Cyprus Journal, No. 11, p. 275, 1908. 



