MAGPIE MOTH. 



60 



Where bushes grow with several stems so placed as to make lodging 

 nooks for leaves to drift into, or insect vermin to shelter in, it is 

 particularly desirable to clear such hiding places well out. 



Should attack, however, occur on the spring leafage, all the usual 

 measures of syringing, shaking down and trampling, dusting, &c., 

 would be available, and as the caterpillars are very noticeable, both 

 from colour and size, hand-picking is also serviceable. 



It is somewhat curious, looking at the presence of this Magpie (or 

 Harlequin Moth, as it is sometimes called) being recorded by some of 

 our best writers as " Common everywhere ; generally abundant " ; 

 " Only too common in all our gardens, both in England and Ireland," 

 that its presence as a seriously injurious attack should so rarely be 

 reported. 



The infestation occurs on Gooseberry and Currant leafage, but the 

 caterpillars are especially fond of that of Sloe or Blackthorn ; and in 

 1880, when the attack was widely distributed, I had notes from Spar- 

 ham, Norfolk, of the caterpillars being common there from the 6th to 

 the 18th of June, but not being injurious, the attack being almost 

 confined to Blackthorn. In the same year, Mr. E. A. Fitch mentioned 

 that at Maldon, Essex, the caterpillars were numerous on Blackthorn 

 at the end of May, and throughout June, and that by the middle of 

 July the moths were very abundant, but though the caterpillars were 

 still plentiful, not a single specimen was to be found on Gooseberry or 

 Currant. In my own observations I have no recollection during a course 

 of many years' residence in W. Gloucestershire, and some time near 

 Isleworth, of seeing the caterpillar attack in the garden, and in both 

 localities there was a great deal of Sloe in the neighbourhood. In case 

 of the infestation being troublesome, the point of whether the Sloe 

 bushes were really the most favourite food would be worth investigation. 

 On these we might use whatever application we preferred without fear 

 of injuring the crop ; and the notes sent in from time to time show 

 that thoroughly clearing out the infestation in one year, acts ex- 

 ceedingly in preventing its recurrence. 



