84 Second Report on Economic Zoology . 
Natural Enemies. 
Bats, Goat-suckers and Owls eat the moths, and the Green 
Woodpecker the caterpillars and pupae. The various Tits (Paridse) 
devour the eggs, according to Taschenberg, and probably the same 
good is done by the Tree-creeper, Wryneck and Nuthatch. 
The pupae are sometimes killed by Ichneumon Fly larvae. 
The Resin Gall Moth. 
( Retinia resinella, L.) 
Specimens of the galls or rather chambers or nests formed by the 
Retinia resinella were received from Mr. J. E. Fraser, of Dores, 
Inverness, with the following notes. The specimens were taken 
from a fir plantation in the neighbourhood of Inverness, where this 
injurious insect (not previously seen in the district or in Highland 
forests) has made a serious invasion. “ There is,” writes Mr. Fraser, 
“ scarcely a single tree in a young plantation in this neighbourhood 
but is infested, and they have been noticed on the branches of a fir 
tree, 120 years old, that was blown down in one of the recent gales.” 
Later he writes (10.4.03), “ that there are traces hereabouts that its 
attacks are now pretty general.” 
The moth that produces these gall-like chambers of resin is fairly 
common in a few localities in Scotland, chiefly in Perthshire, where 
it is found amongst the Scotch firs. 
As a rule if the trees are healthy 
this insect does no harm, but if they are 
„ _ not so the attacked shoots die. This 
i' s es P eciall y noticeable where the soil 
does not suit the trees or where the 
wind and weather have been unfavour- 
able. 
The moth (Fig. 14) appears in May 
and June, and varies in size from three- 
quarters to nearly an inch in expanse of 
wings, the front wings are dark blackish 
grey, with numerous irregular silvery-grey transverse streaks, and 
the costa beyond the middle spotted with white; the hind wings 
greyish-brown and the fringes grey ; a fine silvery line forms the 
boundary above the fringes. The eggs are laid by the female, on 
recent shoots, especially the lateral ones of young pines ; they 
are generally placed under the whorl of buds. The caterpillar on 
Fig. 14. — the resin gall moth 
(Retinia resinella). 
