82 



In the 2nd Part of K. Henry VI. (Act I., sc. 2) the canker is "ambition." The 

 Duke of Gloster, repljdng to his wife, says : 



O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy lord, 

 Banisli the canker of ambitious thoughts. 



In another part of the same play (Act HI., sc. 1) it is disappointment. The 

 unfortunate Henry exclaims, when ill news comes from France : 



Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud 

 And caterpillars eat my leaves away. 



In Hamlet it is overwrought feeling. The gentle Ophelia, mourning for the 

 strange behaviour of her lover, says (Act III., sc. 1) : 



And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, 

 Tliat suck'd the honey of his music vows, 

 Now see that noble and most sovereign reason. 

 Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh 

 That unmatched form and feature of blown youth, 

 Blasted with ecstasy. 



And in Romeo and Juliet it is death : 



Two such opposed foes encamp them still 

 In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will ; 

 And, where the worser is predominant, 

 Full soon the canker death eats up the plant. 



Other passages in which reference to the canker is made are Midsummer 

 Night's Dream, Act III , sc. 2 ; 2nd Part of K. Henry lY., Act II., sc. 2, and Act 

 IV., sc. 4; 1st Part of K. Henry VI., Act II., sc. 5 ; Coriolanus, Act IV., sc. 6 ; 

 Romeo and Juliet, Act I., sc. I. 



In England the larva of one of the plume moths, Fterophorus rhododactylus, 

 feeds in the buds of the rose. There is a variety of small moths that infest the 

 blossoms, leaves and young shoots of the Queen of Flowers. Among them are : 



TiNEINA. 



Lampronta quadripunctella. 

 Colophora gryphipennella. 



Geoivietrina. Tortricina. 



Articlea badiata. Antithesia cchroleucana. 



derivata. Pardia tripunctana. 



Cid&i'ia psittacata. Spilonota roborana. 



fulvata. " roscecolana. 



Hedya pauperana. 

 Crcesia Bergmarmiana. 



" hol/niiana. 

 Pei'onea taricgana. 



Of larvae that feed upon the flower-buds of the apple, one of the most destruc- 

 tive is that of the Figure of Eight Moth (Diloha ceruleocephala), one of the Bom- 

 byces. This insect is so destructive that it was called by Linnaeus, the " Pest of 

 Pomona." The larvae of the Winter Moth (Cheimatobia hrumata) are also very 

 injurious. Immediately after they are hatched they make their way to the 

 unopened buds and burrow in them, concealing themselves from sight. The 

 Green Pug {Eupithe..cio, rectangulata) is another objectionable insect: — "The 

 larva feeding in the young buds of the apple-trees, devouring the stamens and 

 pistils, and protecting itself by tying together the petals " {Btaintcrris Manual, 

 Vol. II., p. 92). By the caterpillars of a tiny moth Hyponomeuta padellus, 

 belonging to the Tineina, the apple-trees are not unfrequently entirely stripped 

 of their foliage. Besides the insects already named, at least 15 species, belonging 

 to the groups Tortricina and Tineina, infest the English orchards. 



In King Richard II., by a striking metaphor England is represented as a 

 disordered garden, over-run with caterpillars (Act III , sc. 4). Twice the word 

 " caterpillar " is used by Shakespeare as one of contempt ; in 1st Part of K. Henry 

 IV., Act IL, sc. 2, and in 2nd Part of K. Henry VI., Act IV., sc. 4. 



I find the word moth " used three times : In the Merchant of Venice, 

 Thus has the candle singed the moth," Act II., sc. 9 ; in Othello where Desde- 



