THE CUP MOTH. 145 



It may be interesting to remark that the recent 

 discovery of the larvae of Doratifera vulnerans attacking 

 apples is by no means so recent as many suppose. Mr. 

 Pescott, the inspector under this office (then in charge 

 of the Orbost State School), drew my attention in 1900 

 to the fact of these grubs having become orchard pests. 

 Mr. Pescott, in his report, states: ''I first observed 

 the larvae of the Cup Moth attacking the foliage of 

 apple trees, in the year 1900, at Orbost (Victoria). At 

 Stuart Mill, near St. Arnaiid, in February, 1908, I 

 found a large number of these larvae at work on the 

 apple trees in the orchard of Mr. J. G. Hayes. They 

 were very voracious feeders, and at least nine or ten 

 larvae would be found on the one leaf. Up till the time 

 the larvae were about half-grown they ate only the 

 epidermis of the leaves, so that the result was very 

 similar to the work of the pear slug. From the time 

 the larvae were half-grown, until they were full size, 

 they devoured the whole of the leaf, excepting the mid rib 

 and the main veins, leaving the remaining portion very 

 ragged and uneven. My observations did not proceed 

 any further than this, as I did not return there again. " 



Referring again to Mr. Froggatt's remarks about 

 these grubs attacking the apricots in New South Wales, 

 he says : ; ' In feeding upon the gum leaves, they move 

 along, ploughing a furrow out of the epirdermis with 

 their sharp jaws, so that a tree infested with them has 

 its foliage covered with brown scars ; but, the leaves of 

 the apricot being so much thinner, they eat the whole 

 of them, often stripping every leaf off the branches. 

 The caterpillars are fully grown in April (in N.S.W.), 

 and the moths emerge in November. The caterpillars 

 of this moth have a very persistent enemy in one of the 

 large Ichneumon Wasps (Merostermis albopictus), which 

 deposits its eggs upon the grubs before it begins to spin 

 its cocoon; and, when the wasp is full grown, it gnaws 

 a circular hole through the side of this prison, as, 

 unlike the moth, it is unable to push the lid off." 



