454 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



is more evident in orchards, where the caterpillars are more partial to 

 members of the plum tribe than to apples and pears. Where the grease- 

 band is not in use and the females have been allowed to climb the 

 trees without let or hindrance, every leaf may be consumed, and the 

 tree possibly killed. In spite of all watchfulness and application of 

 grease-bands, females are found to get to the branches above and lay their eggs ; 

 and to many this has been a mystery. In the newspapers during November, 1913, 

 much was made of the importance of a solution of this mystery on a well-known 

 fruit farm, where the winged male was found to transport the coupled female to 

 the branches. But this solution of the mystery had been found at least twenty 

 years earlier, for in her Report on Injurious Insects for the year 1892, Miss Ormerod, 

 giving particulars of wa^'S in which the grease-band failed to meet the case, says : 

 "Adding to this the difficulties arising from transport of the wingless females in con- 

 nection with the winged males ... it w^as plain that even to meet this one matter 

 of prevention of egg-laying of wingless female moths, something more was needed." 



The full-grown caterpillar is about three- 

 quarters of an inch long and blue-green or smoky- 

 brown, with a dark stripe down the middle of the 

 back and whitish lines along the sides. When full 

 fed it lowers itself to the ground by a fine silken 

 thread, and enters the soil close to the roots, where 

 it becomes a chrvsalis. The moth emerges some- 

 time between the beginning of October and the 

 end of the year ; it may be seen as late as February. 

 Another geometer-caterpillar of similar de- 

 structive propensities is that of the mottled umber- 

 moth, ^ which may also be described as a winter moth, 

 for it makes its appearance chiefly between October 

 and December, and is sometimes found as late 

 as March. The male moth is considerably larger 

 than the winter moth, measuring an inch and a half across the variously marked, 

 brown fore-wings. The female is entirely unlike a moth, for she exhibits no trace of 

 wings. The pretty caterpillar is about an inch long with striped brown back and 

 yellow sides and under side. It feeds upon forest trees, fruit trees, roses, etc., causing 

 enormous damage to the young foliage in spring, and, as its scientific name indicates, 

 often strips the trees completely. This is the caterpillar that liangs in hundreds 

 from the branches in May, swinging on silken threads a couple of feet long. 



Still belonging to the geometer family, though its stouter body and narrower 

 wings give it something of the appearance of a noctua, is the small brindled beauty, - 

 which makes its first appearance in February. It is the male that makes anything 

 like a pubhc appearance, for the female is again a wingless, spider-like creature that 

 must be looked for on the trunks of oak-trees, wh(M-e it is waiting for the niak', ur 

 on its way to. the branches for the purpose of egg-laying. These hatch in 'Shiy, 

 and the caterpillars grow to a length of nearly two inches, purplish-brown in colour, 

 with raised black dots on the back. Thev feed chiefly upon oak in ^lay and June. 



1 Hybcrnia dcfoliaria. - Apocheinia liispidaria. 



[H. Main, F.E.S. 



Mottled Umber-Moth. 



The male moth is shown at rest, as it may frequently 

 be found on tree-trunks in winter. The caterpillar 

 ,is very destructive in spring, alike to forest trees 

 and those in the orchard. 



