92 RASPBERRY. 



page G7 a correspondent informs you that the larvae entered the shoots 

 when about an inch long. Here many of the buds have been entered 

 when they have barely stirred (specimen 1). He says further, ' that 

 as far as can be seen each caterpillar only destroys one shoot.' I 

 doubt this, while I believe that the caterpillar does not leave the bud 

 when once he has penetrated to the pith of the cane, where he makes 

 his lair ; I think that he may often nibble at one or two buds on his 

 way up the cane, and thus destroys them before finding one which 

 pleases him as a permanent settlement. Specimen 2 shows three 

 lower buds which have been seriously bitten, while the only nest is in 

 the fourth or topmost bud. 



" I have also seen a caterpillar travelling from a bud, out of which 

 the heart had been eaten, to one higher up, in which he buried himself. 

 I cannot say that I saw him emerge from the lower one, but the traces 

 of damage were quite fresh. In some cases I have found that the cane 

 died away above the joint at which the caterpillar had made his bed 

 in the pith." 



The above notes are well worth attention, for in them, from one or 

 other of three observers of Easpberry growing on a large scale, we 

 have information of the little red caterpillars being observable straying 

 about the canes as soon as growth of the buds begins, and of their 

 power of causing damage, not only by an individual maggot establishing 

 itself in a bud, but also by each maggot trying, as it were, successive 

 buds until it finds one to its fancy, and even then if supplies fail, 

 quitting the destroyed bud for a new home. 



The following note was sent me, on the 12th of May, from Preston 

 Farm, Shoreham, Sevenoaks, Kent, by Mr. J. Beale, with specimens 

 of both the Easpberry [Byturus) Beetle, and of the caterpillars of the 

 L. ruhiella, the Easpberry Moth. Of the latter Mr. Beale observed : — 



" I do not think it is anything fresh, but it is the first time I have 

 observed it. In fact I thought it was the frost that had touched the 

 shoots, till a friend from St. Mary Cray came down and showed me 

 the larva in the shoots ; he told me he had some ten to fifteen acres so 

 badly damaged that they looked as if it might be the middle of winter. 

 I am having the affected shoots picked off and burnt." '■" 



On May 18th Mr. E. Vincent V. Wheeler, of Newnham Court, 

 Tenbury, "Worcestershire, forwarded me specimens of the L. ruhiella 

 caterpillars then beginning to spin up and change to the chrysalis 

 state. Mr. Wheeler wrote : — " I am sending you specimens of a small 

 red caterpillar which is attacking the Easpberrics this year, it has 

 eaten all the first buds, and eats its way into the cane itself. We 



* Mr. Beale also noticed the great number of the beetles (of which he sent 

 specimens, showing them to be Bytunix) which were present. 



