32 REPORT ON INJURIOUS INSECTS FOR 1904. 



tunnels. The most certain remedy, however, is to place pieces 

 of stick cyanide into the entrances of the tunnels, plugging them 

 up well with clay and smearing the trunk over with clay also. 

 Timber badly infested is best destroyed. 



THE MAGPIE MOTH. 



Abraxas grossulariata, Steph. 



In my report for 1903 I stated that the caterpillars of this 

 moth had not been particularly injurious, excepting to currant 

 bushes grown against walls, but during 1904 they have done 

 considerable damage. On currant, gooseberry and plum trees I 

 have never seen them more numerous. 



A correspondent near Bromsgrove describes his plum trees 

 as " covered with them, thousands have been picked off and 

 destroyed, but they seem more numerous than ever . . . 

 they are rapidly stripping the trees." Another correspondent 

 in Stafford mentions that they " are in greater profusion than 

 I ever remember .... from one small gooseberry bush 

 I picked off and killed over two thousand." 



Fortunately the heavy showers at the end of May killed 

 large quantities, but many had pupated before this. Unless 

 growers who have been plagued with them during the past year 

 have acted upon the remedial measures given in my last report, 

 and here again repeated, the larvae of "this moth are likely to 

 prove very serious in the spring of 1905. 



PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



Early in the spring and again in the autumn the bushes 

 should be sprayed with Paris green (Blundell's), in the proportion 

 of one pound to two hundred and fifty gallons of water, and 

 two pounds of lime, the whole, to be well mixed. This must 

 not be used on ripe or ripening fruit, it may, however, be safely 

 used four or five weeks before the fruit is gathered, if necessary. 



Hand-picking, especially in the case of wall bushes, should 

 be adopted in the spring, and the ground around the bushes 

 hoed and dressed with quicklime. 



Where, in the autumn, there are evidences of a bad attack, 

 the bushes should be pruned and the cuttings burnt. The 

 ground beneath should be treated with quicklime and early in 

 the winter dug in deeply. 



THE WINTER MOTH. 



Cheimatobia brumata, Linn. 



The eggs and larvae of his moth have been forwarded by 

 numerous correspondents in the Evesham district, where it 

 again seems to be on the increase. 



It is now nearly sixteen years since it appeared in any 

 great numbers, and it then did great damage. The late Miss 



