THE APPLE. 



439 



eighty bushels were collected in one day. It 

 is of almost annual appearance in our apple 

 and pear orchards, and attacks both foliage 

 and blossom. Its habits are very similar to 

 those of the last, and the same means must be 

 resorted to for its destruction. Concerning its 

 effects on fruit trees, for it attacks almost all 

 sorts, Mr Curtis remarks, " The injuries they 

 sustain are most serious, as, in destroying the 

 blossoms as yet in the bud, they also destroy 

 the fruit in embryo. The owners of orchards, 

 therefore, have great reason to be alarmed." 



Bombyx (Gastropacha) neustria, Clisiocampa 

 neustrla of Curtis and Stephens (the lackey, or 

 barred-tree lackey moth), fig. 185, in its eater- 



Fig. 185. 



LACKEY MOTH AND CATERPILLAR. 



pillar state is one of the greatest insect ene- 

 mies the cultivator has to contend with. Its 

 attacks are not confined to fruit trees alone ; it 

 is equally destructive to almost every deciduous 

 and evergreen tree and shrub. The moth is 

 seldom seen by day, as it conceals itself beneath 

 the leaves, and amongst whatever herbage is 

 near. It is thus described by Kollar : " The 

 moth is of the middle size. The male, which is 

 somewhat smaller than the female, measures 

 with expanded wings, from tip to tip, from 1 inch 

 to 15 lines. The ground colour of the whole 

 insect is either light yellow or reddish-yellow 

 ochre. The upper wings have always a darker 

 band in the middle, which is bordered with two 

 lighter cross lines ; the fringes are whitish and 

 brown spotted. The under wings are always of 

 a uniform colour, either light yellow or brown- 

 ish, according as one of these colours predomi- 

 nates in the whole insect. The antennae are 

 strongly pectinated in the male, but less so in 

 the female ; the latter has a thicker abdomen." 

 This moth appears in the month of July, and 

 immediately after pairing the female lays her 

 eggs, which she attaches to the young twigs 

 in the form of a ring. The number of eggs 

 laid is from 200 to 350, of the same colour 

 as the bark of the tree, and so hard as to 



set both frost and insect enemies at defiance. 

 The caterpillars appear about the first of May. 

 In June they are full grown, and are often an 

 inch in length, slightly covered with hair, hav- 

 ing blue, yellow, and red stripes down the sides, 

 and a whitish line down the back. They may 

 often be detected in wet days taking shelter in 

 the forks of the tree, congregated to the num- 

 ber of from 50 to 200, and enclosed under a 

 silky substance or nest. In this state they are 

 readily destroyed. During June and July they 

 may be captured in their cocoons, which may be 

 found attached to the branches of the trees. 

 During winter the rings of eggs are perceptible 

 after a little practice, and should be scraped off 

 with a knife and burned. The ichneumon fly de- 

 stroys thousands of them in their caterpillar state, 

 and the beautiful beetles, Calosoma, Inquisitor, 

 and Sycophanta greatly reduce their numbers. 



The caterpillars of the gipsy moth, Bombyx 

 (Liparis) dispar Linn., Hypogymna ditpar 

 Stephens and Hubner, fig. 186, are readily 



Fig. 186. 



Male and larva. 



distinguished from those of other insects by 

 their large spotted yellow head, and by the 

 six pair of red dots on the hinder part of the 

 back. The back is thinly covered with hair, 

 and tufts of it appear on the sides of their 

 bodies. The eggs are hatched early in spring, 

 and the caterpillars spread rapidly over the 

 tree, and attack the buds as they begin to 

 open. They attain their full size about the end 

 of* June, and soon after form their cocoons, in 

 which they become transformed into their pupa 

 state. In August the moth appears, and towards 

 the end of that month, and during September, 

 the female lays her eggs, depositing them chiefly 

 on the trunks of the apple and other fruit trees, 

 and to the number of from 200 to 500 in a mass, 



