TINEA CURTISELLA. 



34-5 



honey-yellow with brown head and dorsal shield. (According 

 to Stainton the larva is greenish, marbled with 

 reddish-brown.) 



Pupa yellow-brown, glossy, in a neat cocoon, 

 pointed at each end and of a silken lustre, 

 constructed away from the larval feeding-place. 



1). Life-history. 



The moth flies in June and lays its eggs on 

 the leaves of ash, which are mined in July by 

 the newly-hatched larva. The larvae pupate early 

 in August on the ground among dead leaves. 

 After eight days' pupation, the moth appears in 

 the middle of August and lays eggs on the leaves. 

 Generation double. In the autumn, when the 

 leaves turn yellow and fall, the caterpillar, .which 

 is still very small, after mining the leaves till 

 near leaf-fall, bores into the sheathing scales of the 

 terminal buds ; here it moults and excavates a 

 hole in which to hibernate. Its presence is indi- 

 cated by the fine powder visible in the entrance- 

 burrow. As soon as the buds begin to swell in 

 the ensuing spring, the caterpillar begins to feed 

 on the buds, and reaches maturity about May. 

 The injured bud is incapable of development and 

 is outstripped in growth by the next uninjured 

 shoot, causing the ends of the branches to become 

 forked. The larvae then generally attack the leaves again, 

 and pupate at the end of May, the pupa being attached by 

 a thread to a twig. Chiefly young plants and saplings are 

 attacked. The summer attack is harmless, but the spring 

 attack causes forking. 



The species is tolerably common wherever ash is grown. 



Fig. 177. 

 Ash - twig 

 inhabited 

 by larvae of 

 ash - twig 

 moth. 



a Exuded 

 excrement. 



(Natural 

 size.*) 



c. Remedial Measures. 



Cutting off the injured buds early in July, together with one 

 of the adjacent lateral buds. This prevents forking but is 

 practicable only in nurseries and on saplings. 



