CUT-WORM MOTHS. 79 



to be taken is to render, if possible, the food obnoxious to 

 the moths, this to prevent the egg-laying, and this can best 

 be accomplished by the use of kerosene or other material, 

 the nature of which, by reason of its oily substance and 

 strong smell, would assist in keeping the moths away at 

 least for a time. On small areas, this, by means of the 

 powerful spray pumps now in use, would be a compara- 

 tively easy matter, the materials being both cheap, safe, 

 and effectual. On large areas, such as corn-fields, &c., 

 the trench system would appear to be the best. In Dr. 

 C. V. Riley's able article on Heliothris, he says — " In 

 those localities where the temperature falls low enough 

 every winter to freeze the ground to the depth of 6 

 inches, late fall (autumn) ploughing will undoubtedly 

 destroy most of the hybernating chrysalids. In our 

 third report on the insects of Missouri we expressed the 

 opinion that corn planted very late, and very early, and 

 moderately late, the early crop being infested by the 

 first brood, and the late by the second brood, in a bad 

 worm year our rule would undoubtedly hold good ; but in 

 an ordinary season, if the corn is planted early and 

 forced to early maturity, the ears will become hard 

 before the second brood has made its appearance, the 

 first brood not being sufficiently numerous to do any 

 marked damage." (This advice, however, may not be 

 altogether applicable here, at least, in the hotter and 

 drier districts of the colony, as, in comparison, our 

 climate is a semi-perpetual summer.) If the grass be 

 not too dry, and there be no great danger of bush fires, 

 lighting fires at night in the vicinity of the crop is a plan 

 frequently adopted, as the moths, both sexes, are readily 

 attracted by a strong light or blaze when they will fall 

 into the fire, and in this manner enormous numbers may 

 be destroyed (we have but to place a lamp near an open 

 window to test this), always remembering that every 

 female killed is probably the means of preventing an 

 enormous egg-laying, and, under favorable circumstances, 

 an increase of the pest. To prevent such caterpillars as 



