REPORT OF THE EXTOilOLOGIST AXD BOTAXL^T. 217 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



£nished eating the leaves of the potatoes, they began to cross the fence into the vege- 

 table garden. The fence was just covered with them. However, we cut a ditch through 

 "the garden and turned on water. They then tried to cross and were drowned by 

 thousands. Some managed to get over on straws and bits of twigs. We have killed 

 large numbers with Paris green and lime, but we happened to be without any Paris 

 green, and they got a week's start of us. N'ow I want to ask a few questions. The 

 28th June was a very hot day, and we had clothes out on the line. When I gathered 

 them in, the clothes had about 50 or 60 separate lots of eggs. I had to get a knife 

 and scrape them off. They were a pale yellow, nearly white. I then went to look at 

 the hops, and found there quite a lot of these egg clusters underneath the leaves. 

 Then we began to look round and found that the same eggs were laid on the windows 

 and all over the verandah. We set to work and got steps and crushed all we could 

 see, which was a veiy large amount. I thought of sending you some of these leaves, 

 and I am sorry I did not do so. The caterpillars have eaten the potatoes, and now 

 they are thick on the peas and beans. They will eat the end off a i)od and then eat 

 the inside. Of onions they eat the top and then go down the stalks. Do you think 

 that the eggs mentioned above are what the cutworms now so troublesome hatch 

 from ?' — Mrs. J. S. Place. 



In reply to this letter, Mr. Anderson answered that he had no doubt that the 

 eggs mentioned were those of the parent of the Variegated Cutworm, and there is 

 no doubt he was accurate in this opinion. Dog Creek is in one of the arid districts 

 of British Columbia, where irrigation is resorted to, and the plan adopted by Mrs. 

 Place in preventing the cutworms from travelling by turning on water is an excellent 

 one which has been resorted to very satisfactorily at Kelowna and Vernon, B.C., 

 during this outbreak. 



' Victoria, B.C., September 20. — I have a number of the chrysalids from cater- 

 pillars sent to me by Mr. E. A. Carew-Gibson, under date of September 2, from the 

 150 Mile House, now inclosed in a gauze cage. I will put them out of doors as you 

 suggest, and place some twigs, leaves, &c., for the moths to lay their eggs on when 

 they emerge. Mr. Gibson says in his letter accompanying the caterpillars : " I am 

 sending you by this mail a box containing about 20 pupte and a handful of larvae of 

 the year's pest — cutworms. I take it these are the same which are so bad all over the 

 province this year. The amount of damage done and the extent of country covered 

 seems extraordinary. At the mining camp at Horse Fly, an isolated settlement 32 

 miles from here, cutworms have this year completely destroyed the gardens, and have 

 denuded potato fields of their foliage. They have been equally harmful at Soda 

 Creek and Quesnelle Mouth. We were not able to get hold of the Paris green as 

 quickly as it was needed, and the damage was nearly accomplished before the larvae 

 were much noticed. These cutwonns do not seem at all particular about their diet. 

 The handful I send were picked from under hop vines, nasturtiums and sweet peas, 

 growing against this house." I thought that you would like to get this note of the 

 occurrence at 150 Mile House, because it is so far out of the way.' — J. R. Anderson. 



' September 21. — Several of the moths from Mr. Gibson's caterpillars have already 

 emerged this morning. This surprised me, as I thought they would be much later.' 



To the above quotations from a few of the letters received from Mr. J. R, 

 Anderson, the following extracts from other correspondents, may be added : — 



' ISTew Westminster, B.C., July 21. — Cutworms are doing immense damage to all 

 crops on the lower mainland. I have been afraid of this for some time, as I noticed 

 the extraordinary number of common cutworm moths at " sugar ". Kindly let me 

 know at once what you advise as the best means of keeping them down. I have 

 found that tobacco sprayed over plants makes them distasteful to the caterpillars. 

 They are everywhere, in fields, in gardens and in greenhouses.' — W. A. Dashwood- 



JONES. 



'Vernon, B.C., July 23. — We forward to-day a tin box containing sugar beet 

 and grubs. We first noticed this grub around an old potato pit where we had potatoes 



