52 



Insect Pests. 



[F. E. 

 IG. 39.— APPLE 

 FRUITLET EATEN 

 BY WINTER MOTH. 



along hedgerows and in the orchards and gardens. They are attracted 

 by light. One often sees them collected on street lamps, and they 

 occur outside windows. 



This is a habit we may well bear in mind, for it 

 \ j^. ^^ possible that we might trap them in very large 



y^A^F numbers by light, and thus prevent the fertilisation 

 ^KKT «^f the females. The females crawl out of the soil 

 ^H| from their cocoons and earthen cases. Nature directs 



wBm them by one of her marvellous ways to the tree 



^J trunk, and this they ascend to deposit their eggs. 



■ Some, however, have been found in grass orchards 



■ crawling up the herbage, and it appears beyond 



■ doubt that some of these are carried by the males in 

 % copula. The number, however, is comparatively few. 



^ The dates of appearance of the Winter Moth vary 



to such an extent that one can only give here very wide 

 limits. Tiie earliest date I have record of is the 1st 

 of October, 1896, and the latest the 12th of January, 

 1905. This was on walnuts at Kingston-on-Thames. 



Their appearance on this tree is always later than on apple or plum. 



In some places they appear at one time, in others at another. For 



instance, during 1907 they were re- 

 ported by Mr. JMercer of Eodmersham 



as covering the grease bands in Novem- 

 ber, whilst at Wye they were at the 



" swarming period " on the 17th of 



December. Six years ago the swarming 



period at the latter place was the 2nd of 



November. It is quite impossible to say 



when they will hatch out. The limits, 



for practical purposes, may be included 



between the 1st of October and the 15th 



of January. Frequently we have a few 



females straggling up some weeks before 



and some weeks after the main hatching. 



This again we must bear in mind, for 



a single female may deposit as many 



as 350 ova, enough, if they all hatched 



out, to defoliate a tree. 



The females mainly seem to be ferti- 

 lised during their ascent, but have been found in copula on the shoots. 



Whether the latter had been carried up by the male or not is unknown. 



CHEHRIES EATEN BY WINTER 

 MOTH LARV.E. 



