THK ENTOMOLOGIST. 149 



very small hole, with perhaps a little frass adhering to the 

 outside: on dividing the spur longitudinally a biurovv is 

 found to have been made through the stem, and in the V)nr- 

 row a small, brownish, stoutish larva, with a dark luad, is 

 seen ; this is tlie larva of Laverna atra ; it continues feeding 

 for some time, removing according to its fancy from one 

 shoot to another, and invariably killing every one that it 

 enters ; it will also eat the leaves and flou^ers, and even the 

 fruit when setting. If then we see a spur or shoot with the 

 leaves brown, much curled and withered, and the petals red- 

 dish brown, incurved, and drooping, we may at once know 

 this insect has been feeding thereon, and all such shoots 

 should be removed at once. The eggs are deposited by the 

 parent moth in July, and principally on the tops of young 

 shoots, and no sooner are the young hatched than they bore 

 into the shoot, completely arresting the growth of the tree, 

 and causing it to assume the gnarled appearance already de- 

 scribed. The larva is rather stout, grub-like, and of a 

 brownish colour ; the head narrow and dark-coloured ; the 

 corslet has a dark dorsal lunule ; the first four or five seg- 

 ments are rather pellucid, with two distinct marks on the 

 central segment ; from thence the body is opaque. When 

 full-fed the larva turns to a light brown pupa, sometimes on 

 the tree, at other times on the ground : it remains in the 

 pupa stale from three to five weeks, the n)oth appearing on 

 the wing in July. Here, then, we have one of the most inju- 

 rious apple-tree feeders, which, eating the very vitals of the 

 tree, can and does utterly destroy some of the choicest fruit 

 grown in this district, while curiously enough some of the 

 commoner kinds are but slightly injured. Espaliers suffer 

 the most from this minute creature, which is snugly en- 

 sconced inside while our gardeners are dressing the roots or 

 washing the trunk with white lime, or applying some secret 

 nostrum of their own. The only way lo prevent its injuring 

 the tree, the remedy pointed out by its life-history, is carel'ul 

 summer and autumn pruning. Few gardeners could be 

 induced to cut off the fruit-spurs ; but as the eggs seem to 

 be laid principally on the upper and lateral spurs, by cutting 

 these from injured trees and burning them, the trees n)ay be 

 preserved and the insects kept in check. The perfect insect 

 has the head, face and upper wings deep black, with two or 



