470 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



interior. The antennae are black, shorter than 

 the thorax, setaceous. The head and thorax are 



Fig. 199. 



mode would be to paint them with vegetable 



spirits of tar. 



The caterpillar of the pear-moth — 

 Tortrix (Pcedisca) angustiorana Ha- 

 worth— fig. 200, although most in- 

 jurious to the fruit of the pear, 



Fig. 200. 



WOOD LEOPARD-MOTH AND CATERPILLAR.' 



densely clothed with fine wool. The thorax is 

 long and oval, with six black spots in two lines 

 down the back. The legs and eyes are also 

 black, the abdomen branded with grey and 

 black. The antennae in the female are simply 

 setaceous, the basal joints woolly. The abdomen 

 is larger and blacker than in the male. The 

 females make their appearance later than the 

 males, and are found till about the end of Au- 

 gust. The eggs are laid in July, and the larva; 

 issue from them in September, but do not arrive 

 at maturity till the following June. The moths 

 are nocturnal flyers, the females far more abun- 

 dant than the males. The former deposits her 

 eggs in holes made in the bark by means of her 

 strong horny ovipositor, to the number some- 

 times of three hundred or more. The larva 

 feeds at first on the bark of the tree, but soon 

 afterwards gaining strength, proceeds to form for 

 itself a tunnel, in which it resides, in the wood 

 of the tree. Like that of other tree-borers, its 

 presence in a tree may be detected by the ex- 

 crementitious matter, like sawdust, protruding 

 from the surface of the bark ; and when such is 

 perceived, tobacco or sulphureous smoke should 

 be injected, or the larva crushed by the intro- 

 duction of a piece of wire. It has been recom- 

 mended as a preservative to fruit trees to paint 

 tlieir bark over with oil. A far more effectual 



PEAR-MOTH, GRUB, AND CHRYSALIS. 



appears to have long escaped the obser- 

 vation of entomologists. An excellent 

 description, with figures, is given of it 

 in " The Gardeners' Chronicle," 1850, 

 p. 20, from which we learn that the 

 caterpillar is bred in the blossom, and 

 commences its attack on the fruit im- 

 mediately under the crown or eye. It 

 is thus described : " It was a quarter 

 of an inch long, of a dirty greenish 

 ochreous colour, and reddish brown 

 down the back. The head was ochre- 

 ous, with a square labrum and two 

 minute antennae, having two brightish 

 brown pointed spots at the base, and 

 a line of the same colour on each 

 side, with minute black eyes. The thor- 

 acic segment is ample, horny, shining, 

 and ochreous, variegated with brown. 

 There are eight or ten minute tubercles 

 on each segment, from which arise long- 

 ish hairs : the six pectoral legs are spotted with 

 black, and it has eight abdominal and two anal 

 feet." As means for destroying this insect, it has 

 been suggested to search for the maggots in the 

 eyes of the fruit, where any of the web by which it 

 covers itself is observed ; but in extracting them 

 it is probable that injury would be done to the 

 fruit itself. The more rational way is to collect 

 the leaves in autumn, and to burn them, as it is 

 conjectured that the eggs are laid upon them, 

 or that the caterpillars spin webs amongst the 

 withered leaves, or in chinks in the bark, to 

 undergo their transformations. If they hyber- 

 nate in the latter, nothing can be better than 

 painting the trees with spirits of tar. 

 • The small pear-midge {Sciara pyri Schmid- 

 berger) is injurious to the pear by laying its 

 eggs in the blossom, and after attaining its larva 

 state it feeds on the fruit, which, according to 

 KoUar, drops off in great numbers. The perfect 

 insect is described by him as having " club- 

 shaped halteres, the club dark brown and the 

 stem whitish. When alive, the abdomen is of a 

 lead colour, with black wings. The head and tho- 

 rax are black, as are also the antennae ; the palpi 

 are of a pale yellow, the feet whitish, and the 

 tarsi black. The veining of the wings is the same 

 as in the other species of Molobrus " or Sciara. 

 The large pear-midgo {Sciara pyri major 



