24 



Insect Pests. 



sometimes an inch in length; these long egg-masses are covered 

 over by the hairs from the female's tail, the eggs being completely 

 hidden. The ova are round, of a dull golden hue, and as many as 

 two hundred and fifty may occur in each batch. They are not only 

 laid on apple, pear and plum, but also on oak, elm, blackthorn and 

 whitethorn. 



The larva? hatch out from the beginning of August and live on 

 throughout the winter. At first they are very small, of a dirty 

 yellow colour, with black head and four rows of black dots and 

 numerous hairs. They at once bend over and spin a single leaf 

 together, eating only the epidermis, and at the same time they attach 

 the leaf to the twig by a mass of silk, so that it cannot fall oft'. 



Towards September they commence to make a regular nest of 

 dull grey silk, attaching several leaves together in the process ; these 



dead leaves become lined and 

 covered with silk and are all firmly 

 united. 



This nest (Figs. 7 and 8) remains 

 on the trees all the winter. In 

 September the larvpe moult and still 

 feed on as long as the leaves contain 

 any sap. This small nest they use 

 as a protection in damp weather 

 and at night. Even after the leaves 

 have gone it is not unusual to see 

 the small larvw basking in the sun 

 outside their tent. As the weather 

 becomes colder they become dormant 

 The hardest frosts do not seem to 



-PART OF EGG-MASS ANI 

 OF BROWN TAIL JIOTH. 



and remain in their dwellings, 

 harm them. 



In the spring they commence to feed on the leaves as they 

 open, the young larvaj wandering some way from their nest, ^"ery 

 frequently a colony will divide, two nests being made and sometimes 

 even a third is formed. 



Early in INIay they moult again, and assume a deep brown colour 

 with reddish-brown hairs, a row of white spots on each side, a narrow 

 double broken line of red on the back, dark between, and v/ith 

 two prominent bright red tubercles on the back of the eleventh 

 and twelfth segments ; these two tubercles are depressed in the 

 middle and can be elevated or withdrawn at will by the caterpillars. 

 Their object is unknown. If it is to frighten off enemies they are 

 useless, for the Brown Tail Moth caterpillar in this country is subject 



