62 



Insect Pests. 



[K Edeadeii 

 FIG. 62.— FEMALE MARCH MOTH. 

 (Ani^opterifX ceficidaria. Sclnff.) 

 (Grt-atly eDliir^ed to .show side view of tail tuft.) 



(Janiljridgeshire and in 

 Yorkshire. The popular 

 name i.s deri\'ed from the 

 date of its appearance. 

 Specimens may, howevei', 

 Lie taken as early as mid 

 Feliruary and as late as 

 mid April, a few strag- 

 glers going on until the 

 end of the month. 



Life-History and 

 Habits. 



The male moth flies at 

 dusk and may be found 

 in gardens, orchards, 



woiids, and along hedgerows. The colour of the fore wings is 



greyish-lirown, with dark and pale wavy lines running across, as seen 



in the photograph (Fig. 51), and there is a small dark hrown spot 



near the upper border of each wing ; 



the wing expanse varies from 1^ to 



liV inch; the hind wings are pale 



grey, with a darker line more or less 



continued from the outei' line on 



each fore wing. 



The female is greyish to greyish- 

 brown and cpiite wingless, and has a 



very pronounced fan -like tail of 



hairs. She crawls up the tree trunks, 

 just as the two preceding do. The 



eggs are laid in a partial Ijand, ^^ar}^- 

 ing in size from ^ to nearly .V inch 

 across, they are deposited in more or 

 less parallel rows and are embedded 

 in liairs from the fan-like extension 

 of the tail ; the eggs are bright and 

 shiny, and A'ary in numlier in each 

 ring. Ormerod (1) records as nuiuy 

 as five hundred in a ring, this appears 

 to lie exceptional, some lifty to two 

 luindred being a, wide limit. 



The egg.s hatch in April. The 



no. 



IK F.dr. 



OATEl;rU.LAl! OF THE MAKOH MOTH. 



