CURRANT SHOOT MOTH. 45 



the Ribes rubrum. These they devour even to the pith of the twig. 

 The moths fly about the Gooseberry bushes " (Stachelbeer-straucher) 

 " in the morning hours." 



The caterpillars of the I. capitella are an exception to the other 

 kinds of Incunaria in respect that they feed in Currant twigs ; whilst 

 of the other species, " The larvae live in cases formed of pieces of 

 dead leaves, and feed on the fallen leaves during the autumn and 

 ■winter." * Still it may be open to doubt whether this point does not 

 need enquiry ; for in Kaltenbach's remarks, before quoted, he mentions 

 the winter-cased caterpillars of the I. capitella being found about Beech 

 trees. If this is so, they might prove on examination to be also about 

 the Currants, and we might thus have a means of clearing some of the 

 infestation. And it will be seen in the following observations, with 

 which I was favoured by Mr. CD. Wise, of observations of the attack 

 in the Fruit Grounds at Toddington, Gloucestershire, that he also thinks 

 it possible that clirysalids may be found in the earth beneath the 

 bushes. 



Mr. Wise wrote me that "about the 20th April we noticed 

 numbers of the young shoots of the Red Currant bushes had withered 

 up and drooped. On examination we found in each a small grub 

 which had bored its way up the stem." Specimens of the moth reared 

 from these caterpillars, from one of which the illustration at p. 44 was 

 figured, proved the attack to be of the Incurvaria capitella. Of this 

 Mr. Wise further remarked : — " The moth hatches the end of May and 

 early in June, and from our observation we are pretty sure that the 

 caterpillar turns into chrysalis in the earth beneath the bushes. The 

 remedy we adopted for this pest was to pick off the infested shoots and 

 burn them, which of course means a lot of labour ; but what else were 

 we to do?" 



* Stainton's ' Tineina,' p. 40, 



