84 
PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 
1916 
The Winter Moth emerges from the pupa at intervals from October to 
February, according to the weather. I have obtained specimens commonly 
in Gloucester and the London District. I took a male on a gas lamp near 
Dean’s Way, Gloucester, on the 30th November, 1915, whilst on police patrol, 
although 17 degrees of frost were registered two days before. This shows that 
the moths are not affected by severe cold. My earliest date is the 29th 
October, and my latest 'the 12th February. 
The methods of control are fully set out in the Leaflet No. 4 issued by 
the Board of Agriculture, to which the reader is referred. They also apply 
equally to the other two species mentioned subsequently. 
Mr W. B. Davis, of Stroud, says in litt. : — ‘‘ The Winter Moth is common 
enough about here. I have usually observed the males on tree trunks or 
at light, where it comes regularly ; but one year, I believe in 1909, returning 
one calm and warm evening late in December from Park Wood, I saw the 
males literally in dozens gently flitting along the hedgerows and over the low 
bushes and herbage in the wood clearings, and I associate the time of flight 
with a darkness in which you flounder about pretty helplessly on rough ground. 
I have only occasionally seen the female, and then generally on smooth bark 
trees, as Beech, etc., where it is, of course, more conspicuous. The grease 
band used by fruit-growers, etc., is generally efficacious, but is not an absolute 
preventive, as the male has been known to fly about with the female when in ' 
copula. I have noted the larvae as very abundant in 1899, and much less 
so in 1900. Though polyphagous as regards bushes and trees, I fancy its 
favourite food plants are the Rosaceae. I know years ago I used to beat it ■' 
out of hawthorn hedges in quantities, and I have often met with it curled 
up in the blossoms of the Crab when searching for the larvae of the Green Pug 
Moth {Eupithecia rectangulata).” 
Upon the question of parasites on the species, Mr Claude Morley, F.E.S., 
states that the following Ichneumonidae have been recorded from C. brumata : 
“ Campoplex pugillator, Linn., in Germany ; Sagaritis zonata, Grav., in Devon ; i 
Phobocampa crassiuscula, Grav., in New Forest; P. unicincta, Grav., in Devon; 1 
Agrypon flaveolatum, Grav. (the principal parasite of this moth, cf. Iclm. of ^ 
Britain, vol. v., pp. 255-6) ; Mesochorus confusus, Hlgr., and M. crassimanus, T 
Hlgr. in New Forest; Braconidae : Apanteles jimiperatcB, Bouche, and A. i 
immunis, Hal., Meteorus pulchncornis, Wesm., M. ictericus, Nees, and M. 
pallidus, Nees." V 
One of these, Mesochorus confusus, has also been recorded as a parasite 
on the Gipsy Moth {Porthetria dispar). 
These parasites work in the following manner: The female fly usually 
lays one or more eggs upon the moth caterpillar, known as the host, from * 
which larvae hatch out in a few days. These larvae burrow through the 
skin of the host and feed upon the juices and tissue of its body, avoiding 
at first the vital parts by instinct. The host stung in this way never 
arrives at maturity, being eventually entirely devoured by the fly larvae, 
which then emerge, form their pupae on the skin of the host or on some 
neighbouring object and in due course produce the flies. » 
Experiments have been carried out in the United States in order to control 
various injurious species of Lcpidoptera. The Winter Moth does not ap- 
parently occur there, but a most interesting account of the importation of 
the parasites of the Gipsy Moth {Porthetria dispar.) and the Brown Tail Moth 
(Euproctis chrysorrhaa) was published by the United States Dept, of Agri- 
culture in 1912. 
The authors, L. O. Howard and W. F. Fiskc, point out that the study of 
parasitic insects dates back to 1602, but that the earliest suggestion regarding 
the artificial handling of beneficial insects was printed in Kirby and Spence’s 
" Entomology,” published in 1816. The authors claim considerable success, 
and express hopes of being able to control the pests. 
