INSECTS WHICH PREY UPON AGRICULTURAL PLANTS. 97 



proboscis being bent back. The moths are abundant from July 

 to October ; these have a long spiral tongue, and horns like fine 

 bristles, the head and thorax purplish. The wings, which are a 

 little deflexed when closed, expand half an inch, and are of a 

 brownish colour. In the centre of each is a pale golden mark, 

 like the Greek letter gamma, or English Y, hence the name. A 

 rainy season seems to be congenial to them. The only practi- 

 cable method of dealing with them is to put ducks or poultry on 

 to the affected crop. 



Dei^ressaria applanella (the Common Flat-body Moth). — This 

 insect is often mistaken for the common clothes' moth when it 

 enters houses, as there is a great resemblance between them ; 

 but this species has a flattened abdomen, from which it takes its 

 name. The females live through the winter, and lay their eggs 

 in the umbels of the carrot and parsnip, which they affect. The 

 caterpillars spin webs amongst the flowers and capsules, greatly 

 injuring the seed. They are of a grass green colour, and undergo 

 their transformations rolled up in the leaf. The moth is of a 

 dull reddish ochre colour, and shines like satin. 



Acherontia atropos (the Death's Head Moth). — This noble- 

 looking and handsome moth is as large as a bat, with the well- 

 known mark of a skull distinctly imprinted on the back of its 

 thorax. It can utter a cry like the faint squeak of a mouse. 

 The larva is as thick and long as the middle finger of a man's 

 hand, and of a yellowish or greenish tint, with seven oblique 

 bands on each side, of a bluish colour. It lives on potato leaves, 

 coming out at night to feed on them, and it, as well as the moth, 

 has the power of uttering a faint squeak in captivity, being the 

 only British species which can do so. It has the audacity to 

 enter bees' hives in search of honey, and for this reason is some- 

 times called the "Bee Tiger Moth," its horny velvet-covered 

 case protecting it from their stings. 



Plutdla ccijlostella (the Turnip l)iamond-Back Moth). — A small 

 grey moth, very abundant in turnip fields. The caterpillar is 

 spindle-shaped, half an inch long, of a delicate gTeen colour, and 

 lives on the leaves of the turnips. When at rest the wings of 

 the moth are reflexed at the posterior part, and the feelers are 

 projected forward in a straight line. The inferior wings liave a 

 very long fringe, and are lance-shaped ; the upper ones when 

 closed have white diamond-shaped markings across the upper 

 parts, and there are two little upcurved horny processes pro- 

 jecting from its " mouth." 



Tinea grandla (the little Wolf Grain-^Ioth). — Ecsemblos the 

 last very much, but is darker in colour. Its little white grubs 

 infest grain in granaries, and cause the seeds to adhere together 

 by their excrement and webs. They form cocoons in chinks in 

 the floor or walls, which look like grains of corn dusted over, in 



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