THE APPLE. 



437 



roots of plants, remains under ground all winter, 

 and appears in spring in the transformed state 

 of a perfect beetle. They are more injurious to 

 young trees than to old ones, and commit sad 

 havoc often amongst nursery stock. Watering 

 the ground with lime-water, about the roots of 

 the trees, during winter, applying spirits of tar, 

 or ammoniacal gas- water, will do much to lessen 

 their numbers. 



Melolontha (Anisoplia) horticola of Fabr., 

 Phyliopertha horticola of Kirby and Stephens, 

 fig. 181, is a leaf-eating beetle, and is parti- 

 cularly injurious to the apple, 

 although it attacks other fruit 

 trees also. Its body, head, and 

 thorax are dark green; its anten- 

 nae reddish, with a strong termi- 

 nal club ; the wing - cases red- 

 dish brown, somewhat shining, 

 and not extending to the ex- 

 treme point of the body. They 

 attack the foliage of trees, which 

 they perforate with holes both 

 large and numerous. They in- 

 habit the trees during summer, 

 pair in early autumn, when the 

 female drops to the ground, and 

 deposits her eggs two or three 

 inches under the surface. The 

 larvae, when hatched, continue 

 in the ground, feeding on the 

 roots of plants, until transformed 

 in spring into beetles, when they 

 horticola' and *&? ^nd the trees in search 

 larva. of food. The same means may 

 be taken for their destruction as 

 recommended for the last. 



Aphis pyri mali; the apple aphis or plant- 

 louse. — This extensive genus, generally known as 

 the green-fiy, is sufficiently well known. It has 

 been asserted that almost every genus of plants 

 has a species of the family almost peculiar to 

 itself. For mode of destruction, &c, vide 

 Peach Tree. It is singular that Kollar, in his 

 " Treatise on Insects injurious to Gardens," &c, 

 should not mention the Aphis lanigera, an in- 

 sect, according to Downing, common in France 

 and Germany, and which he asserts was trans- 

 ported from those countries to America. 



The black-veined white butterfly, or hawthorn 

 pontia (Papilio cratcegi Linn. ; Pieris cratcegi, 

 Stephensand Curtis), fig. 1 82. This insect, which 

 only flies by day, is thus described by Kollar: 

 " It is of considerable size, and quite white, ex- 

 cept that the ribs or veins of the wings, and a 

 short oblique stripe from the second to the third 

 vein of the upper wings, are black. This distin- 

 guishes it from the cabbage butterfly, Pontia 

 brassicos (vide fig. 4 A), so destructive in kit- 

 chen-gardens, which is also for the most part 

 white, and almost of the same size, having a 

 broadish black border at the tips of the upper 

 wings. Besides this, the under side of the pos- 

 terior wings of the cabbage butterfly are yellow, 

 and its fore wings have always two black dots 

 on the under side, which are seldom seen on the 

 upper one." It is necessary to mark these dis- 

 tinctions, as the two insects are often confounded 

 together. To this we may also add that the 

 VOL. II. 



caterpillars of the first attack trees, those of the 

 latter the various kinds of Brassica only. Our 



BLACK-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY 

 AND CATERPILLAR. 



present subject appears in the butterfly state 

 from the end of May till about the middle of 

 June, laying its eggs about the beginning of 

 July, which are of a shining yellow colour, cylin- 

 drical, and longitudinally ribbed. They are de- 

 posited on the surface of the leaf to about the 

 number of 150. About the 18th of the month 

 the eggs are hatched, and the young caterpillars 

 come forth of a dirty yellow colour, covered 

 with hair. " The head," Kollar remarks, " is 

 black, and there is a black ring round the neck, 

 and a brownish-red stripe on both sides. As 

 soon as it begins to rain, they immediately draw 

 the leaf together over them by means of a web ; 

 and on the 21st of July a covering was ready 

 under which they were quite sheltered during 

 continued rain. In the mean time they enjoyed 

 the food which the epidermis of the leaf afforded, 

 and they gnawed it entirely off, so that nothing re- 

 mained but the veins." They appear to be impa- 

 tient of wet, and retire into their nest during rain. 

 Birds, rain, and other insects destroy them to a 

 great extent — indeed, so much so, that it has been 

 computed that rarely 20 or 30 out of a family 

 of 150 survive to occupy their winter abode, 

 which they begin to construct so early in 

 autumn as September, at which time they cease 

 to feed on the trees. They remain in the cater- 

 pillar state during winter ; and upon the ap- 

 proach of warm weather in spring they quit their 

 winter abode, and commence operations about 

 the beginning of April upon both the young 

 leaves and blossom-buds, devouring the latter 

 first, and afterwards attacking the former. 



Bombyx (Liparis) aurijiua (Porthesia auri- 

 flua), Stephens, fig. 183, the yellow-tailed moth, 

 is one of the most destructive insects infesting 



3 K 



