CUREANT-SHOOT AND FRUIT MOTH. 71 



larvae (according to Stainton and A. Hartmann, of Munich) live early 

 in May in tlie young shoots and buds of the Pabes rubrum. These they 

 devour even to the pith of the twig." * 



lu observations sent me in 1891 from the Toddington Fruit 

 Groand.s, Winchcombe, Glos., by Mr. C. D. Wise, he mentioned that 

 " about the 20th of April, we noticed numbers of tlie young shoots of 

 the Eed Currant bushes liad withered up and drooped. On examination 

 we found in each a small grub which had bored its way up the stem." 

 Specimens of the moth reared from these caterpillars, from one of 

 which the illustration at p. 70 was figured, proved the attack to be of 

 Incurvaria capitella. Of this Mr. Wise further remarked, " The moth 

 hatches the end of May and early in June." f 



In the present year, that is, 1892, Mr. Wise, writing to me again 

 on the same subject from Toddington, on the 9th of April (that is, 

 eleven days earlier than the date of the observations of the previous 

 year), remarked : — " We have to-day found Incurvaria cajntella in the 

 shoots of our Ked Currants. You will remember last year we did not 

 notice the attack till the 20th of this month. The shoots of the Cur- 

 i-ants are very small, and I must say I was surprised to find the little 

 caterpillar already there. I suppose the warm weather has hastened 

 the attack. I have started the men to-day syringing with Paris-green, 

 1 oz. to 10 gallons, and will let you know the result. The caterpillars 

 being so very far in the shoots of the bushes, the difficulty is to get 

 anything to them." — (C. D. W.) 



These various notes show the manner in which the attack of the 

 hybernated caterpillars (that is, of the partly grown caterpillars which 

 have passed the winter each in its cocoon on the bushes) is hurtful to 

 the young Currant shoots. And this, excepting the date of appearance 

 of the moths, and the fact of their presence being observable round 

 bushes, which they might be infesting, was, I believe, as far as we had 

 advanced until Dr. Chapman's observations in the course of the past 

 season showed where to look for the eggs, and for the caterpillars 

 hatching from them, by which the infestation of the next generation 

 of this Incurvaria attack is commenced in the young Currant fruit. 



With this guidance, Mr. Wise followed the matter up for practical 

 use at Toddington, and on the 3rd of June he wrote me : — " The moths 

 have been hatched with us some little time, and are now laying their 

 eggs on the fruit of the Currant. We have also found some of what 

 we believe to be the larvae feeding on the Currants." — (0. D. W.) 



Dr. Chapman's paper includes besides a very clear account of the 

 method of infestation to the Currant fruit, descriptions of the larva and 



* ' Pflanzenfeinde,' of Kaltenbach, p. 260. 



t Tifteenlli Report on Injurious Insects,' by Ed., pp. 44, 45. 



