Leaves reduced to lacework by caterpillars - country diary archive, 4 June 1918

4 June 1918 Most of these foliage-devourers are the larvae of geometer moths of various kinds, sometimes called loopersCaterpillars are doing their best to eat up the woods. On some of the sycamores, elms, and other trees the leaves are already reduced to lacework; on others, oaks in particular, many of the leaves have vanished. Most of these foliage-devourers are the larvae of geometer moths of various kinds; they are sometimes called loopers, on account of their habit of humping up their backs and straightening themselves out for the next reach, as they walk, or they are known as stick caterpillars when, at rest, they apparently pretend to be lifeless twigs. Others are smaller moths, leaf-rollers and miners, and others, again, particularly abundant on the hawthorns but by no means confining their attention to this plant, are the showy little hairy "palmer worms," the caterpillars of the gold-tailed moth, whose irritating hairs give tender skins a rash. Related: Health warning as toxic hairy caterpillars take over woodlands Continue reading...