34 



THE OAK. 



taken up their abode. It is. however, from the 

 leaves of the Oak that the chief portion of its 

 insect population derive their support : and it is 

 principally among the caterpillars of the moths 

 and butterflies that the greatest number of the 

 leaf-feeders are found. Of these the Tortrix 

 viridana^ a very small, pretty, green species, is 

 by far the most obnoxious ; entirely stripping the 

 Oaks of their foliage, as we have more than once 

 observed at Coombe AVood in Surrey. Even the 

 smaller sorts of caterpillars become, from their 

 multiplicity, sometimes as destructive as those 

 which are of considerable magnitude. During 

 the summer of 1827, we were told that an extra- 

 ordinary blight had suddenly destroyed the leaves 

 of all the trees in the Oak of Honour ^Vood, 

 Kent. On going thither, we found the report but 

 little exaggerated ; for, though it was in the leafy 

 month of June, there was scarcely a leaf to be 

 seen on the Oak trees, which constitute the greater 

 portion of the wood. But we were rather sur- 

 prised when we discovered, on examination, that 

 this extensive destruction had been eflected by 

 one of the small solitary Leaf-rollers {Tortrix viri- 

 da?ia j : for one of this sort seldom consumes more 

 than four or five leaves, if so much, dui'ing its 

 existence. The number, therefore, of these cater- 

 pillars must have been almost beyond conception; 

 and that of the moths, the previous year, must 

 also have been very great : for the mother moth 

 only lays from fifty to a hundred eggs, which are 

 glued to an oak-branch, and remain during the 

 winter. It is remarkable that in this wood, dur- 

 ing the two following summers, these caterpillars 

 did not abound. The moth varies in the expan- 



