DISEASES AND INSECTS. 51 



an inch and a half across the wings, and irregularly 

 covered with black spots, produces the gooseberry 

 caterpillar, Abraxas grossulariata, which sometimes 

 leaves our gooseberry and currant trees without a leaf. 

 The little looping caterpillar is yellowish-white, with an 

 orange stripe down each side, and numerous black spots 

 about it. The butterflies are plentiful in July and 

 August. The female lays her eggs on a leaf, and in 

 September the caterpillars are said to hatch out, ready 

 to begin their depredations in the spring. They begin 

 upon gooseberries and red currants, but after they have 

 finished them they will feed on sloes, peaches, and 

 almonds. The chrysalis is black, with orange rings 

 round the pointed end. Hand-picking is the best cure. 

 Dusting with the powder of white helebore is also very 

 good. 



The caterpillar of Tinea qadella, or small ermine moth, 

 appears in autumn, from eggs laid near the bloom-buds 

 of the apple, pear, Euonymus and hawthorn, in June and 

 July ; they enclose the twigs with a web, and the 

 following spring they attack the petals of the flower 

 and the calyx. The caterpillar is a dull dark colour, 

 with a black head, and the moth is white with black 

 dots on the wings, minute and pretty. The pear-blister 

 moth, Tinea dercJcella, is active, minute, glossy, and the 

 wings are orange, spotted. In August the caterpillars 

 raise dark brown blisters on the leaves of pear trees, 

 and occasionally attack the apple also. If the tree is 

 small, and the mischief taken in time, the injured leaves 

 can be picked off and burnt. "Washing with soapsuds 

 at the end of May, when the moths are laying their 

 eggs, is recommended. The triple-spotted currant tinea, 

 Tinea capitella, in its larva stage eats into the pith of 

 the young shoots of the currant in spring and the 

 larva of Tinea corticella spoils apple trees by establishing 

 itself under the bark. 



The worm belonging to the apricot moth, Ptedisca 

 Angustiorana, is a small yellowish-green, wriggling little 

 caterpillar that rolls itself up in the leaf of peach, 

 nectarine, and apricot, and is very active at making its 



E 2 



