30 CURRANT. 
extreme measure which has been adopted in some gardens of destroying 
every Gooseberry and Currant bush that was not already destroyed by 
the caterpillars, and beginning with a fresh stock. We have not 
adopted that extreme course ourselves, but are told we shall be obliged 
to. The caterpillars were certainly worse last year than ever.”— 
CT. dW) 
This infestation has certainly a power of doing a great deal of 
mischief, but yet it may quite be hoped that preventive measures, 
based on knowledge of the habits of the insect, would be successful in 
clearing out the attack. 
The duration of the whole life of the insect,—that is, the time 
included in the egg condition in summer, subsequent caterpillar state 
in autumn, winter, and following spring, and chrysalis, from which 
the moth comes out towards midsummer,—is about a year. 
The eggs are laid, one or more as the case may be, on the leaves of 
the attacked plants, ‘not only in the evening, but even in the middle 
of a warm summer's day.” ** These soon hatch, and the caterpillars 
may be found in August and September, and feed for a while, but, it 
is stated, rarely longer than for four weeks. Before winter, they 
prepare a shelter by spinning the sides of leaves together, in which 
they may rest, and also spinning the leaf fast to the twig, so that when 
it fades, the caterpillar still hangs securely in the hung-up leaf, but in 
some cases the caterpillars merely drop down and shelter themselves 
in the fallen leaves below the bushes. In these situations they pass 
the winter, but with the appearance of the leaves in the following 
spring they come out again, and feed on leafage until some time 
during May, or towards the beginning of June. Then they spin their 
light transparent cocoons attached to twigs, or palings, or in crevices 
of walls, or possibly on the ground, from which the moth comes out 
towards the middle of summer. 
The chrysalis is at first yellow, but soon changes to black, with 
yellow bands. 
The caterpillar is commonly of a creamy or yellowish colour, with 
a reddish line along each side below the spiracles or breathing-pores, 
and has a large number of variously sized black spots on the upper 
part, a black head, and the three pairs of claw-legs are also black. 
The colouring, however, sometimes varies in amount of black marking, 
even to being entirely black, without any mixture of yellow or other 
colour. 
These caterpillars are what are called ‘‘loopers”’ (see figure, p. 28). 
They have only one pair of sucker-feet besides the three pairs of 
* Newman’s ‘ British Moths,’ p. 99. 
t See ‘Larve of British Butterflies and Moths’ (Ray Society), vol. vii. pt. i. 
p-» 151. 
