2 APPLE. 



three inches in length when full-grown, their various tints of green so 

 much resemble those of the Apple leafage, that they are not readily 

 observable. Even in the case of specimens sent for examination 

 amongst twigs of Apple leaves, I found it required a little care to be 

 sure that some did not escape notice. 



Fig. 2, at heading, is drawn from a fall-grown specimen. The 

 general colour of the caterpillars is what is known as apple-green, but 

 varies in tint, being sometimes of a yellower, sometimes of a bluer 

 colour; the skin rough or " shagreened," and dotted with white; on 

 each side are seven white stripes slanting backwards at the top, each 

 stripe (at least when the larva is nearly full-grown) having along its 

 front edge a Hue of green of darker colour than the ground. The 

 seventh stripe is longer than the others, and is continued up into the 

 horn-like process at the tail. This horn is rough, pale or sky-blue in 

 colour, and greenish or black towards the tip. The head (after the 

 first moult) is somewhat triangular in front, with the point at the top; 

 the three pairs of claw-feet are pinkish or brownish, the sucker-feet 

 beneath the body, and the pair at the tail, green ; but this caterpillar 

 varies much in detail of colouring with the successive moults.* Those 

 which I examined were almost or quite full-grown. 



Last year (1894) I had only two notices of presence of this cater- 

 pillar besides what might be noticed casually in my own garden. The 

 first observation was sent me on the 27th of August, by Mr. Thos. 

 Harley, from St. John's Cottage, Bewdley, with the remark: — "I 

 send herewith a caterpillar which I find stripping the leaves of Apple 

 trees." . . . "Last year, in August, I found one specimen of it, 

 apparently the only one, but this year I have found half a dozen, all 

 in the course of the past two or three days. In each case Apple trees 

 only were attacked." . . . "The caterpillar is very destructive ; from 

 its colour it is scarcely discernible, and attention is only drawn to it 

 by seeing the young shoot, which it seems to prefer, entirely stripped 

 of its leaves." 



On the IBth of September, Mr. Andrew Howard, writing from 

 Meldruth, Cambs, remarked; — "I am sending to you by this post a 

 box containing three caterpillars ; they are quite strange to me. I 

 have found seven or eight each on a separate tree (Apple trees planted 

 one or two years). They entirely denude the tree of all its leaves, but 

 as they are few, and the leaves will soon naturally fall, I do not 

 intend to poison them with London-purple, which I have no doubt 

 would soon settle them." 



Accompanying Mr. Howard's letter were two very good specimens 

 of the Eyed Hawk Moth caterpillars, one specimen upwards of two and 



* For description of the changes, see ' Larvffi of British Butterflies and Moths ' 

 (Eay Society), by the late W. Buckler, vol. ii. pp. 99—103. 



