402 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



coiifiinuHl. However, there is luucli reason to fear that iu the coming- 

 year there will he extensive outhreaks of voetgangers from Namaqiia- 

 land on the west to Tarka on the east, and the Orange lliver on the 

 north to Laingshurg and TTitenhage on the south. The districts along 

 I lie Orange Tiiver east to and including Colesberg will probably all 

 he moi'e oi- less infested. Had the rains come a couple of months 

 eailiei', migratory locust l)irds would probably have been a ver\' 

 decided help in the distiicts now heavily infested with the pesl, as 

 they were about Oraaff-Ileinet, where good rains came in November; 

 hut the birds de])arted weeks ago, and the destruction of the voet- 

 gangers is dependent almost wholly on ihe poisoning operations. It 

 is inevitable that the numerous scattered locusts escape, and the condi- 

 tions are such that the escape of many swarms is practically certain. 

 Winged swarms will probablj^ be migrating in easterly directions in 

 early May. That some penetrate into Basutoland is not unlikely. 



The voetgangers are being combated energetically on the 

 customary lines. Each infested district has a district locust ofhcer 

 and from one to six local locust officers hard at work supervising 

 destruction measures. To no small extent the exceptional rains of 

 the month have handicapped the work. Supplies and officers have 

 often been held up by flooded rivers and deep mud in the roads. The 

 Britstown district officer narrowly escaped drowning in attempting 

 to cioss a flooded drift. 



Mystery (Army) Worm. — Since the last note on this insect 

 appeared in the Journal, outbreaks have occurred at Taungs and at 

 Hlabisa, in Zululand, whilst swarms of young caterpillars were 

 observed during the last week of March on the outskirts of Pretoria. 

 In the latter instance, the insects were found to be nearly full grown 

 at the end of the first week of April. Further, eggs were deposited 

 in town on the 4th of Apiil. 



Caterpillars on Lupiiis. — Some spring-grown lupins suffered 

 considerable damage from caterpillar attack in Pretoria, during 

 November last. The caterpillars concealed themselves very success- 

 fully by webbing together the leaflets, so that each leaf was trans- 

 formed into a boAver or cradle, in which the insect lived. These 

 caterpillars were the larvae of that cosmopolitan butteifly popularly 

 known as the " Painted Lady " (Pyratneis cardui). 



Geramum Butterfly. — Geraniums, pelargoniums, and Ivy 

 geraniums are often injured by small green caterpillars, which 

 burrow into and destroy the stems, especially the terminals. These 

 insects are quite notorious for the damage they do to geraniums and 

 the like Avhen grown in tins and pots as stoep plants. Complaints of 

 their damage frequently reach the division. The caterpillars doing 

 the damage are spiny and slug-like, and are the progeny of a small 

 brown butterfly known as Lycaena palemon, a relation of the bean- 

 pod butterfly. The eggs are laid by the butterflies upon ihe young 

 tips of the plants, and it not infrequently happens that the mischief is 

 traceable to one female. These eggs are very small and white, but 

 although so minute, can be easily detected when once recognized. The 

 best treatment is several days' attention to the catching of the butter- 

 flies that are ovipositing, the removal of eggs and of feeding larvae. 



