RAVAGES OF CATERPILLARS. 203 



conspicuous of insect depredations, in consequence 

 of their being committed upon the leaves of trees, 

 bushes, and plants, which are often stripped as bare 

 as in winter. .Even the smaller sorts of caterpillars 

 become, from their multiplicity, sometimes as destruc- 

 tive as those which are of considerable magnitude. 

 During the summer of 1827 we were told that an ex- 

 traordinary blight had suddenly destroyed the leaves 

 of all the trees in Oak of Honour Wood, Kent. On 

 going thither, we found the report had been little ex- 

 aggerated; for though it was < in the leafy month of 

 June,' there was scarcely a leaf to be seen on the 

 oak-trees, which constitute the greater portion of the 

 wood. But we were rather surprised when we dis- 

 covered, on examination, that this extensive destruc- 

 tion had been effected by one of the small solitary 

 leaf-rollers ( Tortrix viridana, HAWORTH) ;* for one 

 of this sor; seldom consumes more than four or five 

 leaves, if so much, during its existence. The num- 

 ber, therefore, of these caterpillars must have been 

 almost beyond conception; and that of the moths, the 

 previous year, must also, have been very great: for the 

 mother moth only lays from fifty to a hundred eggs, 

 which are glued to an oak branch, and remain during 

 the winter. It is remarkable that in this wood during 

 the two following summers these caterpillars did not 

 abound. "f 



Instances, like this, however, from solitary species, 

 are, we believe, less common than those of the rava- 

 ges of gregarious caterpillars. In 1826, colonies of 

 the buff-tip (Pygccra bucephala, OCHSENHEIM.) were 

 in some parts of the country very abundant. We re- 

 marked them particularly at Harrow-on-the Hill, and 

 at Compton-Basset in Wiltshire. From their feeding 

 in company, they strip a tree, branch after branch, 



* See figures of this caterpillar and its moth in * Insect 

 Architecture,' pp. 162-3. 

 t J. R. 



