84 



Insect Pests. 



eye-like spot with several black dots ; the posterior pair of wings are 

 grey. Much variation is seen in the colour of different specimens. 



The moths are found on the wing in June and July at dark, and 

 they frequent orchards, gardens and lanes. The female deposits her 

 eggs at night, usually singly, but now and then in clusters, upon the 

 upper sides of the leaves. Kollar (2) states that they are placed at 

 the base of the leaf and fruit buds, and that they remain as ova 

 during the whole of the winter. Both Fletcher (3) and Slingerland 

 (4) found that the ova hatched in late summer and early autumn, 

 and that the winter is passed in the larval, not Qg(^, stage. This 

 seems to be the rule in this country, but I have 

 found such small larva- in spring that I am inclined 

 to fancy KoUar's statement is also correct (1). 



Tlie eggs are flat and more or less round, trans- 

 parent, and resembling little specks of gum on the 

 leaves. When several are laid together they overlap 

 one another like the scales of a fish. In general 

 appearance they resemble the ova of the Codling 

 Moth, the outer edge being marked with well-defined 

 reticulation. The young larva can be seen developing 

 within the egg-shell, and as it matures gives the centre 

 of the egg a greenish hue. The e^^ stage lasts from 

 seven to ten days. On hatching from the eggs the 

 larvfe at once commence to feed on the under surface 

 of the leaves where they form little tubes of silk, 

 open at each end and attached to the leaves near the 

 mid rib. When feeding, the young larvte form a 

 small fine mass of webbing, beneath which they 

 shelter and go on feeding until the leaves are nearly 

 ripe. By then they are nearly half grown. Before 

 the leaves fall they repair to the base or axils of the 

 buds and winter there, enclosed in a small silken case 

 usually covered with algas and dirt, as inconspicuous bodies no 

 more than \ inch long; sometimes they may be found under a 

 dead butl scale. In these " winter houses " the larva:' are gi'cen. 

 When the buds commence to swell they leave the "houses" and 

 enter the buds, where they change to reddish-brown caterpillars 

 with black heads, dark first segment and legs. When still more 

 mature they become a pronounced reddish-brown. AVhen mature, 

 the caterpillars reach neariy i inch in length. At first they live 

 mainlj' in the buds in the spring, spinning the opening leaves and 

 blossoms together, but later they feed amongst - the open leaves. 



FIG. 76. —WINTER 

 CASE OF BUD MOTH 

 CATEUPILLAR («). 



