

Insects, etc., Injurious to the Gooseberry. 265 



LlFE-HlSTOKY AND HABITS. 



The moth appears in June and July. In size it varies from 

 1 to 1 inch ; the front wings are blackish (with a dull purplish 

 gloss when fresh) marked with rusty brown marks, with small pale 

 spots at the tips and the hindermost edge, often, however, indistinct 

 and with a large white kidney-shaped dot, often very pronounced ; 

 the hind wings are dusky-grey shading into dull whitish at the base. 

 They fly at night and deposit their eggs upon the food plants ; as 

 many as thirty are laid by each female. The larvfe appear from the 

 beginning of July until the latter part of August, the last hatched 

 ones not maturing until the end of September, and some even being 

 found as late as the middle of October ; the majority have reached 

 maturity by the end of September. 



The larva varies in colour from pale green to grey or deep green 

 and even reddish-grey ; there is a pale dorsal line and semi-lozenge- 

 shaped darker marks along the back from the fourth to the eleventh 

 segments ; the spiracular line is somewhat paler and there are five 

 dark oblique bands below, the twelfth segment is distinctly humped ; 

 the first two pairs of the dorsal markings are always deepest in hue ; 

 the head is green, and the thoracic shield has two dark green to brown 

 patches. That they vary in colour, according not only to the plant 

 upon which they live, but also upon the same plant according to the 

 part of the plant attacked, is well known. Buckler (2) figures four 

 larvte from Ptcris aquilina ; the green ones occurred on the green 

 parts of the leaves, the brown on the brown parts. 



When mature the larva reaches about 1^ inch in length, it 

 then falls to the ground and changes into a brown pupa in the earth 

 beneath where it has been feeding and remains in that condition 

 until the following summer. 



PREVENTION AND EEMEDIES. 



In gardens hand-picking is advisable : it is a sure means of 

 lessening attack. Where they occur in large numbers on gooseberry 

 and fruit bushes it would be best to spray with some arsenical wash. 

 It is said that if they are shaken off the plants, and then the ground 

 drenched with cold water, especially if the weather is hot, that 

 violent purging is brought on, and the caterpillars are reduced to 

 mere skins (3). 



Gardens that have been attacked by the Dot Moth Iarva3 should 

 be lightly forked over, so as to expose the pupa? and so place them 

 where they can be devoured by birds. It would be worth while to 



