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Vol. XLVIII. LONDON, FEBRUARY, 1916 No. 2 



POPULAR AND PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 



An Insect Enemy of the Parsnip, 

 by w. h. brittain and c. b. gooderham, truro, n. s. 

 For a number of years the work of the Parsnip Webworm 

 (Depressaria heracliana Dec.) has been noticed on the wild parsnip 

 {Heradeum lanatum Michx) growing in the vicinity of the Agri- 

 cultural College, Truro. In the summer of 1914 an attempt to 

 grow some cultivated parsnips for seed on the College Farm was 

 unsuccessful owing to the attacks of this insect. The shortage in 

 the supply of vegetable seed during the past season, consequent 

 upon conditions in Europe, has given an impetus to the local pro- 

 duction of such seed As a result a number of our farmers have 

 planted small plots of parsnips for seed purposes, but with rather 

 disappointing results, as many complaints have reached us of 

 serious damage occasioned by this pest. It would therefore appear 

 that a brief description of the insect, with notes on its life history 

 and habits, would be particularly opportune at the present time. 



Description : 



The Egg. — Stainton* says regarding the oviposition habits of 

 the insect: "The egg of this species is no doubt deposited in spring 

 on the undeveloped umbels of Heradeum spondyliiim by the 

 hibernated female." Other writers have quoted Stainton in this 

 connection, but though a number of entomologists have informed 

 us that they are well acquainted with the egg, we have not been 

 able to discover any further reference or any description of this 

 stage in the literature at our disposal. 



The eggs are small, more or less rectangular in outline, with 

 rough edges, measuring .32 - .40 mm. in length, and .17 -.19 mm. in 

 width. They are pearly white in colour and ribbed longitudinally, 

 as shown in fig. 1. 



*Stainton, H. T., Nat. Hist. Tineina, Vol. V, Part 1, 112-113 (1861). 



