580 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



newly-expanded leaves, choosing the sides of 

 the veins or nervures as a fitting place. With 

 the saw-like appendage for which this family is 

 remarkable, the female commences cutting into 

 the leaves and stalks, and in the openings de- 

 posits her egg between the cuticles or under 

 the bark. The larva becomes hatched in about 

 seven or eight days, and commences feeding on 

 the leaf, which it speedily anatomises, increasing 

 in size, and frequently changing its skin, until 

 it is about three-quarters of an inch in length. 

 It is now of a dull pale-green colour, the first 

 thoracic segment being deep yellow, the penul- 

 timate being also of the same colour ; the feet, 

 tail, and head are black, and each segment is 

 dotted black also, some having as many as 

 twenty-four spots arranged in lines down the 

 back, while those on the sides are more irregular, 

 with one large one at the base of each foot. 

 They have six pectoral sharp horny feet; the 

 fourth segment appears destitute of feet, but 

 the six following are each furnished with a pair 

 of legs, which assists them in walking; they have 

 also a pair of feet at the extremity of the last 

 segment. In the fly state it assumes an ochreous 

 colour ; the body is orange, sometimes bright ; 

 the wings are irridescent, and, when expanded, 

 are about two-thirds of an inch in length; the 

 antennae are almost as long as the body, bristly, 

 brownish above, and nine-jointed; the crown of 

 the head and eyes are black, as are also three 

 large confluent spots in the centre of the trunk, 

 and also a large patch on the breast or sternum. 

 The broods of caterpillars appear in succession 

 occasionally from March till October, but in 

 greatest numbers in May and the early part of 

 June. Sometimes they severely attack the 

 gooseberry in July and August, and after 

 denuding the bushes of their foliage, they 

 descend into the earth, spinning themselves a 

 yellowish cocoon of an elliptical form, and 

 remain in their pupa state till the following 

 spring. Those of the early summer brood 

 descend in like manner, but in course of three 

 weeks, or even less, undergo their transformation, 

 and again appear as perfect flies. Syringing the 

 bushes on the first appearance of the caterpillars 

 until the foliage is well wetted, and then dusting 

 them all over with powdered caustic lime, or 

 powdered hellebore, is effective ; the operation 

 should be performed at least two or three times 

 to secure their destruction, and the earlier it is 

 done the better. Watering with lime-water has 

 much the same effect, and covering the ground 

 under the bushes with fresh tanner's bark is 

 also advantageous. The most radical cure, 

 however, is to remove the soil under the bushes 

 to the depth of 3 inches, and to dig pits 2 feet 

 deep and bury the soil in them, substituting 

 that taken from the pits for that which has 

 been removed. Water heated to 140°, and 

 applied by the syringe or garden engine, has 

 been found destructive to the caterpillars, while 

 the foliage has sustained no injury. A strong 

 infusion of digitalis has also been found useful 

 when syringed over the bushes while the cater- 

 pillar is in a young state. The barbarous prac- 

 tice of striking the stem of the bush suddenly 

 with a mallet, so as to cause the caterpillars to 



fall to the ground, where they may be bruised to 

 death with the back of a spade or trodden 

 under foot, is attended with much injury to the 

 stem and bark of the tree. 



The magpie -moth (Phalcena grossulariata 

 Linn., Abraxas grossulariata Leach), fig. 241, 



Fig. 241. 



THE MAGPTE-MOTH. 



Caterpillar and chrysalis. 



is a very pretty moth, which may be seen flying 

 about in great quantities during the evening 

 about the end of July. In colour it is a creamy 

 white, covered with blaek spots ; the thorax and 

 abdomen, a space near the base of the upper 

 wing, are of a fine orange colour ; the horns are 

 slightly thicker in the males. The females, 

 after pairing, deposit their eggs on a leaf, which 

 are hatched about September ; they are not full 

 grown till the end of May, and sometimes they 

 do not become pupae until the end of June, in 

 three weeks from which time they are trans- 

 formed into moths. In the caterpillar state they 

 are exceedingly destructive, frequently strip- 

 ping the gooseberry and red currant bushes of 

 their leaves, leaving nothing but the foot-stalk ; 

 and sometimes the peach and almond are at- 

 tacked by them. The caterpillar is of a cream 

 colour, spotted with black, with orange spots/is 

 slightly hairy when it arrives at maturity ; it 

 spins a web constructed so loosely that the pupa 

 sometimes falls out. The chrysalis is of a black 

 colour, having a few orange rings round the seg- 

 ments of the body. The eggs being laid on the 

 foliage, and the young larva feeding on them, 

 a remedy is suggested by burning the leaves 

 when they fall off in autumn. 



The small magpie -moth (Phalama vanaria 

 Linn., P. halias Godart and Curtis), fig. 242, is 

 equally abundant and destructive to gooseberry 

 and currant bushes as the last. The caterpillars 

 of this moth appear as early in spring as the 

 leaves on which they are to feed begin to unfold 



