44 



CUBRANt. 



"Currant-shoot" Moth. Incurvnria capitelln, F&h. 



Incurvaeia capitella.* 

 Moths, magnified and nat. size, from life. Caterpillar, magnified, after Stainton. 



The Incurvaria capitella is a small motb which, so far as I am 

 aware, has no special English name ; but as the caterpillars are 

 injurious by feeding within young Currant shoots, perhaps the name 

 of the " Currant-shoot" Moth would distinguish it fairly well. 



The moths figured above were sketched from a specimen of the 

 /. capitella kindly given me by Mr. T. Doeg, of Evesham, who bred 

 the insect from larva) taken in shoots of Red Currant, on the fruit 

 plantations belonging to the Toddington Fruit Company, in Gloucester- 

 shire. The little moths are about five-eighths of an inch across in 

 spread of the fore wings ; head with a thick tuft of ochrey hair above. 

 Fore wings dark brownish or fuscous, sometimes with a purplish satiny 

 gloss, a pale yellow band across the wing at about one-third of its 

 length from the root, and two patches, also pale yellow, about half-way 

 between the yellow band and the tip of the wing : these two patches 

 are respectively on the fore and hinder edges of the wing, and the 

 hinder patch is somewhat triangular in shape. The hinder wings 

 pale grey. 



The note of habits of this moth given in Stainton's ' Tineina ' is : — 

 " Common among Currant bushes at the end of May. The larva is 

 very injurious, eating the pith of the young shoots, and betrays its 

 presence by the withering of the young leaves when quite young ; it is 

 dark red, but when full fed it is greenish white." 



In the ' Pflanzenfeinde ' of Kaltenbach, p. 260, a little is added to 

 this information: — "The larvti) (according to Stainton and A. Hart- 

 mann, of Munich) live early in May in the young shoots and buds of 



* The neurations of the wings only show partially so long as the plumage- 

 remains. To display this characteristically the scales must be removed. This is 

 well shown by vaiious comparative figures of wings, denuded and undenuded of 

 ecales, given in Stainton's ' Tineina,' plate 2. 



