58 



The lower wings are usually reddish-brown, with an indistinct paler 

 crossbar. They are seen in July and August. 



The female lays her eggs arranged spirally on twigs, and by this 

 position of the eggs the pest can always be noticed. They are laid 

 early in August, one female laying from three hundred to four 

 hundred eggs. 



The larvae hatch out the following April, and are then black. 

 For a long time they live in companies, from thirty to one hundred 

 in. a company, spinning a web over themselves, going out to feed on 

 the foliage, but returning to the webs at night or when it rains. When 

 nearly adult, they wander apart by themselves, being then one and 

 a half inch long and gaudily covered with long hairs, having a bluish 

 grey head with two black spots on it resembling eyes. 



The next segment is grey-blue in colour, with four black spots onit, 

 and the other segments are hke this one, striped with white down the 

 middle of the back and with scarlet, blue, and black on the sides. 

 When adult, they get in crevices in the bark or in other cracks on the 

 tree, on adjacent hedges, or under any rubbish that may be about. 

 The pupa is smooth and brown, enclosed in an oblong yeUow cocoon, 

 with which a sulphury powder is mixed. 



The eggs are greyish brown, arranged in ^ands about one and 

 a half inch along the young twigs, and can be seen throughout the 

 winter. This pest is easily recognized on account of the position of 

 the eggs and the gaudily coloured larvse. 



Insecticides. — Caustic winter washes do not destroy the eggs, so 

 that twigs seen to have them on must be pruned off and burnt. 



Shake the trees, when the larvae are in their clusters, and destroy 

 all those thait fall into a sheet spread under to catch them. 



Keep the ground all round quite free from weeds, so as to take 

 away a place in or on which the pupal stage can be passed. In May 

 or June go round all the trees with a bucket containing some strong 

 insecticide, and when the webs and clusters of larvae are seen cut 

 the affected shoot off and dip it straightway into the bucket. 



4. The Pith Moth, Blastodacna hellerella. Order Lepidoptera. 



The larva of this moth causes considerable damage in apple 

 orchards, and is distributed from Lancashire southwards. 



It is often confused with the bud moth, but the larva of the 

 bud moth spin the leaves together, making leaf-nests, whereas the 

 larvae of the pith moth do not. 



The moths belong to the group Tineinae, having narrow wings 

 bordered with long fringes, and the fringes most marked on the lower 

 wings. The moth varies in size, with a leaf expanse of two to three 

 fifths of an inch. The front wings are nearly black, with white 

 streaks and scales, the hind wings being grey, with long delicate 

 fringes. 



The larva is red, having the head and the first and last segments deep 

 brown, the next two segments are pale brown, whilst the abdomina 



