164 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



needle and lay in it from 10 to 20 eggs, repeating the process 

 on the adjoining needles till about 120 eggs have been de- 

 posited. The larvae hatch in a fortnight or rather more, and 

 live together in small companies on Pine-shoots, feeding on 

 the needles, from the midribs of which they strip away the sides. 

 They fortunately confine their attacks to the older needles, and 

 not to the young ones of the first year. Towards the end of 

 their two months' life they devour the needles completely, dis- 

 regarding the midrib. They are caterpillar-like, with 22 legs, 

 and are somewhat variable in colour, being usually lighter or 

 darker green, darker along the back, with a blackish head and a 

 lateral series of black spots. After five or six moults each larva 

 makes a very small oval cocoon of leathery texture in rubbish at 

 the foot of the tree, or in moss, &c., under the surface of the 

 layer of needles on the ground. In warm countries, and with us 

 in warm seasons, a second brood of flies appears from these 

 cocoons in August and September, and in the autumn their larvae 

 feed up, very largely on the needles of that year, which are then 

 suitable for food, and remain in shelter throughout the winter in 

 their cocoons, not actually changing to pupae till about three 

 weeks before the flight-time. The winter period is always passed 

 in the cocoon by the summer larv^ if there is no autumn brood. 



The larvae can be destroyed by shaking them down on to 

 cloths and there killing them, or they may be crushed in situ, 

 by grasping them with a gloved hand or a wad of tow, or with 

 a metal implement like a pair of scissors, with two large flat 

 blades meeting face to face. 



They can also be killed by spraying with a solution of helle- 

 bore, or sprinkling it on as a powder, but better results would be 

 got by the use of Paris-green, as for fruit-trees. The expense of 

 this treatment is not great ; low fruit-trees are sprayed for about 

 7s. to 10s. per acre, exclusive of the prime cost of the machine 

 used. A hand-machine which will spray trees up to 14 feet in 

 height can be bought for less than £3 ; it requires two men to 

 use it. Apparatus of this sort should find its way into every 

 large nursery where occasional trouble from defoliating or other 

 insects is experienced. The objections to the use of arsenic on 

 fruit-trees do not apply here, except when there is risk of injury 

 to game. 



The pupse of Lophyrus can be destroyed by raking up the 



