44 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Inly 11, 1872. 



so often is nurtured abundantly, to proceed from these to ad- 

 jacent Pear or Plum trees. Conspicuous enough at the time 

 when the webs serve as a partial protection to the larvae from 

 the visits of hungry birds, yet it is not so easily got rid of then 

 as early in the season when the brood are leaf-miners. As for 

 diminishing its numbers by the expedient suggested by one 

 writer — viz. , placing a sheet under the bushes during the season 

 when the moths are out, and striking the former with a stick ; 

 this will certainly dislodge plenty of moths, but not render it 

 easy to secure them, unless the habits of Y. padella are greatly 

 different in some places from what they are in others. Though 

 these moths sit on the hedges in the day seemingly torpid, 

 they are soon roused to activity by a sudden shock, and prove 

 nimble enough, if not strong on the wing. But, in these 

 islands at least, the Small Ermine can hardly be called a 

 notably injurious moth to our fruit trees; it may disfigure 

 them by its webs, but does not touch the blossom or fruit 

 usually, nor exhaust the strength of the tree. 



Misapprehensions, as we often find, arise from very plausible 

 appearances, and insects are regarded as formidable foes which 

 are really comparatively harmless. The large pale-green cater- 

 pillar of the Eyed Hawk Moth (Sphinx ocellatus), with its 

 seven stripes and horned tail, may be a pleasing object to the 

 naturalist, but in the orchard, the proprietor frequently picks 

 one off an Apple tree in disgust, for its size suggests to the 

 mind the idea that it is a remarkably destructive monster. 

 Yet, though a caterpillar of this species will dispose of a good 

 number of leaves in the last week or two of its life, a brood is 

 scattered about over a great extent in most instances. A 

 female moth will rarely deposit more than two or three eggs 

 in one spot ; flying as she does rapidly from place to place 

 while at the work of oviposition. The preference of the species 

 (at least with us) is manifested towards Willow and Poplar. 



Various species of Lepidoptera have been included in the 

 list of the enemies of our fruit trees, which, on a fair- trial, 



Liparis auriflua. 



could easily prove themselves " not guilty." Some that are 

 exceedingly injurious on the continent of Europe give no 

 trouble in this country, either because of their rarity here or 

 because they choose different food. Such species as the Gipsy 

 (Liparis dispar), the Pale Brindled Beauty (Amphidasis pilo- 

 saria), are instances. The Gold-tailed Moth (Liparis auriflua) 

 is one of the species which has borne a bad name for about a 

 century and a half as one of the pests of fruit trees. The tra- 

 ditional story is that the insect, or the nearly allied Brown-tail 

 (L. chrysorrhcea), occasioned general alarm in France in 1731 

 and 1732 ; first of all stripping the hedges and woods, and then 

 devastating the orchards, eating not only leaves but the imma- 

 ture fruit. Though the people attempted to destroy them, 

 they effected very little ; cold rains, however, extinguished the 



lives of most before they came to their final stage. .Such is 

 the tale, which is sufficiently unsatisfactory. This is quite 

 certain, by the way, that the two species have been inexplicably 

 mix ed up by authors through the names having been mis- 

 applied, and the resemblance in both larva and imago being 

 very close, has made it difficult to put matters straight. The 

 caterpillar of the Gold-tail, a smart-looking hairy fellow, decked 

 in scarlet, black, and white, is very common everywhere in 

 early summer; and, feeding on the Hawthorn or "May," it is 

 noticed by many who are ignorant of natural history, and if, 

 in their curiosity, they handle it much, they are pretty fre- 

 quently punished for so doing by getting a painful irritation of 

 the skin, which may last hours or days. How the caterpillar 

 produces this effect is not certain ; but were the species com- 

 mon on fruit trees the urticating power possessed by L. auriflua 

 would be a bar to its removal by hand-picking, unless by those 

 endued with skins not particularly sensitive. The downy, 

 white, and decidedly sluggish moth clings to the boughs or 

 trunks of trees in July and August. The females remove the 

 greater part of the tuft which ornaments the tail and which 

 gives rise to the name in both the Latin and English languages. 



We find no record , by any modern entomologist who has had 

 this species under his observation, of injuries done by it to 

 fruit trees in Great Britain ; and, personally, I have sought in 

 vain for proof that it is productive of harm, though stray 

 larvae may chance to be found in the orchard or garden. 

 What would be its habit were Hawthorn scarce with us is 

 another question. The other species referred to, L. chrysorrhcea, 

 is too scarce with us to be troublesome, and it is usually found 

 at large upon Willows and Sloe in the larval state. The habits 

 of both are similar in most points. 



A moth with a caterpillar exceedingly different from the last, 

 bearing the English name of the " Figure-of-8 " (Episema 

 cssruleocephala) , is given in most lists of those molesting fruit 

 trees. In Britain it only does so occasionally — very occasion- 

 ally indeed of late years — not that I suppose the caterpillar 

 has any objection to feed upon any prunaeeous plant, but 

 there being now plenty of Hawthorn cultivated, it seems of 

 late years to have confined itself chiefly to this, feeding some- 

 times, however, on the Sloe (Prunus spinosa), and passing the 

 others by. Though pretty common in the London district, I 

 have not found it making its way into our orchards. I have 

 no doubt this is one of the species, the numbers of which are 

 greatly reduced by the sparrows and other birds, the cater- 

 pillar being conspicuous on the hedges ; nor does it readily 

 drop, as some do, nor adopt any defensive means. The head 

 is small and bluish-green (hence the Latin name), the body 

 yellowish-green or dirty white, striped with yellow and studded 

 with minute black warts; the legs and claspers are also spotted 

 with black. The eggs having been deposited in the autumn 

 by the parent moths, the young caterpillars are prepared to 

 begin feeding as soon as the leaves open in the spring. They 

 are rarely found attacking the buds. In June they become 

 full-fed, and construct compact cocoons, fixed on the twigs 

 and composed of fragments of leaves and silk. The moths 

 emerge in October, or a little earlier or later. In some books 

 a spring brood of the species is named, but this is a mistake, 

 in this country at least, its emergence being limited to the 

 autumn. Were it to become troublesome to fruit-growers, it 

 could be kept under by shaking the caterpillars from the 

 branches or by hand-picking. A still more effectual if rather 

 tedious plan, would be the removal or crushing of the eggs, 

 which are laid in small patches upon ths twigs close to then- 

 junction with a branch. Mr-. Birchell informs us that in Ire- 

 land the species is scarce, nor do I believe it is at all common 

 in North Britain. 



Such a species as the Green Pug (E. rectangulata) , though 



small in size, is really much more likely to prove injurious 



than many of the larger caterpillars. It occurs with us on 



the Apple trees in gardens, and also on the wild Crab. In 



certain districts of France, according to recorded observations, 



\ it is so abundant as to destroy on an average about three- 



j fourths of the blossoms, and affects both the Pear and Apple. 



I The eggs appear to be deposited singly, and they are so placed 



that the young caterpillar on emergence can at once begin 



j operations upon the immature blossoms. It is short and 



rather stumpy at all ages, but when young darker in colour 



than towards maturity, becoming then of a pale green and 



transparent. The back is marked with a line running from 



head to tail, which is sometimes narrow and indistinct, or even 



entirely wanting. Regarding its habits, Mr. Newman observes 



that the blossoms it attacks, instead of shedding then- petals 



