114 



Insect Pests. 



now and then into June. The female places her ova in the young 

 currants, where the small caterpillars pass the first stages of their 

 life. These early stages were followed by Chapman (2), who records 

 the egg-laying process as follows : " The moth sits upon the currant 

 and penetrates it in the lateral region, on one occasion the process 

 occupied three or four minutes, on another, only about thirty seconds. 

 The dates were from the 17th to 20th of May. On examining one 

 of these currants, which was rather more than half grown and with 

 seeds still very soft, two eggs of capitdla were found lying free in 



[Horace Knight. 



FIG. 163.— THE RASPBERRY SHOOT MOTH {Iticurvaria cctpitella). 

 Larva, adult aud larva in shoot. 



the ovarian cavity ; in another, the cavity contained two such pairs 

 of eggs. 



The ova are colourless and lemon-shaped, about 0"67 mm. long. 



The small caterpillars which hatch from these eggs feed upon the 

 seeds. The fruitlets become prematurely coloured and in June and 

 July the small caterpillars leave the fruit and spin up small white 

 cocoons on the bark, under the rind or on the bud scales. At this 

 time the little larva3 are only about jV iuch long, of an orange-red 

 colour, with rufous head. 



In this stage the winter is passed, and in the spring the little 

 larvse crawl forth and bore into the buds and shoots. They tunnel 

 up the shoots after destroying various buds and cause them to flag 

 and die. At first the larvas are briglit red, but before becoming 

 mature they become greenish to greenish-white. Stainton (3) 



