44 



Insect Pests. 



dead boughs, and especially in the trunk, which becomes perforated 

 with innumerable holes up to about eight feet from the ground. 



They cause the death of a tree much more rapidly than is 

 generally supposed. An ash which I kept under observation (3) was 

 first attacked in 1891 ; the tree was left alone, and for eight years- 

 struggled on, not only not growing but gradually decaying, until it 

 put out a few stunted leaves as a dying effort, and by 1903 it was 

 quite dead. This tree was thirty-six feet high and four feet in 

 circumference six feet from the ground. It is only old apple and 

 pear trees that are attacked, especially old cider and perry fruits. 



LlFE-HlSTORY AXD H.VBITS. 



The Goat Moth (Figs. 31 and 32) varies to some extent in size, 

 the female being from 3 to 3i inches in expanse of wings, the male 



from 2 to 3. In build 

 it is stout and clumsy ; 

 the head clothed with 

 dense grey hairs ; the 

 thorax greyish-brown ; 

 the large, hairy abdo- 

 men has darker trans- 

 verse bands, and the 

 apical borders of the 

 segments are grey ;. 

 the broad fore wings 

 dark grey and brown, 

 with dusky transverse 

 streaks; the hind wings 

 ashy-grey to greyish- 

 brown, with some in- 

 distinct brown marks, 

 and the antenna; are 

 fringed with grey in 

 both sexes. It occurs 

 during June and July, 

 and flies at dusk, but 

 is very inactive, usually depositing its eggs on the trees from 

 which they hatch. The female has a horny extensile ovipositor, 

 by means of which she places her eggs far in crevices, etc., of the 

 bark of the trees. It is said that one female may lay as many as a 

 thousand eggs (Kollar (4) ). Three females kept under observation 

 each deposited between two and three hundred. They were laid in 



[A. V, D. Rintoul. 



;i> MALE GOAT MOTH (Cossus ligniperda). 

 (Slightly reduced.) 



