IS 



Insect Pests. 



l.IFK-HjSTdKY A>Mi ][a1'.1TS. 



They IVcqueiil gardens and nivliards, and lay tlieiv eggs almost 

 exclusively on ap]de trees. 



Wood (1), in his ' British jMotlis,' says they are " said to feed on 

 the small stems and twigs of the apple tree." 



This does not appear to l)e always tlie case, for the trunks only 

 seemed to be attacked at Croydon. 



The moth lays its eggs on th(.' trunk of the tree and the larvfe 

 tunnel under the bark; there they W(irk until they are mature, and 

 then they eat out a hollow in the wood, which they line with silk of 

 a dull grey colour, and cover the outside with lirown wood chi|)s. 



Tlie larva is dull yellowish-white. Buckler (2) describes a 

 pinkish pulsating dorsal vessel, with an internal purplish - i>ink 

 tinge from segments five to eight; this could not be detected in the 

 specimens sent me. The head is retractile and shiny reddish-brown ; 

 the second segment is somewhat wider than the others, and has a 

 Ijrown dorsal shield ; the segments are very distinct, and the prologs 



)!'■ Tiiii; Ai'i'i.i'; ci,i:aii\\im; iJ:<jcri'< tini<ij'iju 



r.ork.). 



small and veiy inconspicuous; there are traces of spots, each lermi- 

 irated by a bristle. The specimens sent were mature, and measured 

 a little more than ■-; inch in length. The whole larva seems rather 

 flattened. The nurture larva' were very sluggish when extracted from 

 their irregular burrows. They had all pupated by the '2'Mh. of dune. 



The pui]a' (Fig. :'>) are bright pale brown, and lie com])letely 

 protected in the silken ca,ses covered \\'ilh rich brown wiiod chijis and 

 apparenl-ly some " i'rass ' frDUi the larval ^\orkings. In length the 

 pu])a' varied from a little over I to nearly }j inch. 



They were all curved and slender, and tapered to a ijoint at the 

 apex, which is bluntly rounded with a ring of spines; the tirst live 

 abd(.)minal rings lia\'e two dorsal rows of spines, the two I'ollowing, one 

 row each. Tin? spines are somewhat darker than the ground colour. 



When ready to hatch, the pupa' make their way partly out of the 

 cocoons, and the em])ty brown skins are seen protruding IVom (he trees. 



