Insects, etc., Injurious to Nuts. 



297 



THE NUT-LEAF BLISTER MOTH. 



(Lithocolletis conjli. Nicelli.) 



Nut leaves, both wild and cultivated, are often seen to be marked 

 with large pale blisters, ranging up to nearly inch in width. These 

 blisters are sometimes roundish, at others rather elongate. They are 

 caused by a small leaf- 

 mining moth caterpillar, 

 known as Lithocolletis 

 coryli. These mines occur 

 on the upper sides of the 

 leaves. Another species, 

 Lithocolletis nicdlii, occurs 

 on the lower sides, but 

 I am not sure if this 

 species occurs in Britain. 



During the late sum- 

 mer of 1906 the nut leaf 

 miner seems to have been 

 abnormally abundant, 

 both in the hedgerows on 

 hazel and amongst cul- 

 tivated cobs and filberts 

 in many parts of Britain. 



The damage done to 

 the leaves, especially in 

 young plantations, must 

 have been severe, checking 

 the further growth and 

 development of the shoots. 



In this country it is common in Devonshire, Somersetshire, 

 Gloucestershire, Surrey, Kent, Cheshire, and has occurred in various 

 parts of Yorkshire (Stainton recording York, Scarborough, and 

 Stock ton-on-Tees), the last-named authority also gives the Cumberland 

 Lake district, and Cockburnspath in Berwickshire. 



In 1906 it was very abundant in parts of Kent, some cobs being 

 seen with all the leaves blistered, many having six or seven blisters 

 on them. Badly attacked trees were seen in Devonshire, but I only 

 noticed it in one place in Worcestershire and one in Herefordshire. 



[F. Edenden. 



FIG. 201. NUT LEAVES MINED BY THE NUT-LEAF 

 BLISTER MOTH LARV^!. 



