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Plants Attacked and Nature of Damage. The caterpillars 

 of the Magpie Moth feed on currant and gooseberry, plum, 

 sloe, apricot, nut, laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), spindle 

 (Euonymus), and probably other plants, but damage of import- 

 ance is usually confined to currants, gooseberries, and occa- 

 sionally apricots. The pest is perhaps more often harmful in 

 confined gardens than in large orchards. The injury, which 

 consists in the destruction of foliage by the caterpillars, begins 

 as soon as the leaves appear and continues until June, the 

 bushes in a bad attack being completely stripped. This 

 naturally weakens the trees, and may cause a loss of crop for 

 one or two years. 



Description and Life-History. The Magpie Moth is the 

 well-known black, white and yellow insect shown in Pig. 1. 

 It appears in July and August and lays eggs, singly or in small 

 groups, on the leaves of gooseberries, currants, &c. In about 

 a fortnight minute blackish caterpillars are hatched from the 

 eggs and feed on the foliage, growing slowly, until the autumn, 

 when, while still small, they go into winter quarters sheltered 

 among the dead leaves of their food-plant, in moss and lichen 

 growing on the bushes, or in any cranny where they may get 

 some protection during winter. As soon as foliage appears in 

 spring the caterpillars leave their winter quarters and again 

 begin to feed, growing in size until the end of May or early 

 June, when the bushes may have been almost stripped of 

 foliage, with the natural result that the fruit cannot develop. 

 The caterpillar, shown in Fig. 2, is then black and white in 

 colour, with a yellow stripe down each side. When full-fed : t 

 turns into a shining black chrysalis, with narrow yellow bands 

 round the " tail " (abdominal) segments, arid is suspended 

 in a slight cocoon among the leaves or twigs of the food- 

 plant, on fences, walls, or other places. The moth emerges 

 in about a month and the life-cycle begins again. Barely 

 there is a partial second brood, a few caterpillars feeding up 

 rapidly and producing moths in autumn, but this second brood 

 is never sufficiently numerous to do any damage. 



It is important to distinguish between true Magpie Moth 

 caterpillars and those of the Gooseberry Sawfly, since after 

 an attack of the former no damage will again occur until the 

 following season, while in the case of the latter damage must 

 be expected at intervals throughout the summer unless preven- 

 tive measures are taken. Gooseberry Sawfly caterpillars 

 (Leaflet No. 12) may be recognised by the fact tKat they are 

 qreen, more or less speckled iritli black, and so are very 

 different from the black, white and t yellow Magpie caterpillars. 



Methods of Control. (1) In gardens with only a com- 

 paratively few bushes, the caterpillars can best be dealt with 



