296 Insect Pests. 



first the whole batch of larvas feed together, but later they separate 

 into smaller groups of from ten to twenty. When young and feeding 

 all together they skeletonise a leaf or two in very conspicuous manner, 

 but when they are larger they disperse over the leaves. "When at 

 rest they lie close together, usually on the upper surface of the leaf, 

 lying parallel with one another. They are mostly mature by the 

 middle of September, but I have had them sent as late as October. 

 When full fed they fall or crawl to the ground and pupate under 

 the soil. The pupa (Fig. 200) is not encased in any cocoon or even 

 cell of earth. It is deep brown, thick, about 1 inch in length, 



smooth with two spines at the apex. 

 Sometimes they lie under fallen 

 leaves, but generally beneath the soil, 

 where they remain all the winter and 

 hatch out in May, June and July (4). 



Eemedies. 

 Where arsenical spraying cannot 

 be carried out, the larvae may be 

 destroyed by shaking the trees. At 

 the least jar they fall down to the 

 ground, and can then be trodden on 

 TOP.E OF BUFF-TIP MOTH. '^-iitl SO killed. Tliosc that escape 

 readily ascend the trees again, so 

 that care must be taken to destroy them all. If many are present 

 it would be as well to tie bands of hay round the trunks of the trees 

 near, especially around the infested one, and to smear the bands with 

 tar so as to prevent the larvie ascending again, but when there is 

 no herbage beneath the trees they can all easily be killed, so that 

 banding is not necessary. Whenever the groups of young larvae 

 are seen, the leaf should be picked off at once and destroyed, before 

 they spread into smaller companies. 



Spraying with any arsenical washes would poison the larva?, and 

 for this purpose the arsenate of lead wash may be used on cherries 

 and nuts. 



Eeferences. 



(1) Theobald, F. V. Eeport on Economic Zoology for the year ending 



April 1st, 1907, p. 44 (1907). 



(2) Kollar, V. ' A Treatise on Insects Injm-ious to Gardeners, Foresters and 



Farmers.' (Trans. J. and M. Loudon), p. 321 (1840). 



(3) Ormerod, E. A. ' Manual of Injurious Insects,' p. 227, 2nd ed. (1890). 



(4) Theobald, F. V. Eeport on Economic Zoology for the year ending 



April 1st, 1906, p. 45 (1906). 



