^^m 



M 



21 



Fig. 11. they have more or less of a family resemblance in all 



. \^ ^ their different stages. Fig. 10 sliowsthecaterjiillar and 



-^ — * Ti^ chrysalis, and Fig. 1 1 tlie perfect moth, with its wings 



expanded as well as folded. 



The life history of the other leaf rollers referred to 

 above has not yet been fully worked out. and as they 

 have not thus far attracted much attention, we pass 

 them over with this brief notice. 



liemrdics. Since all these leaf-rollers feed on the foliage and come out of their hiding 

 places for this purpose, an a})plication of hellebore and water on the leaves would proba- 

 bly destroy many of them. It has also been recommended to plough deeply either in the 

 Autumn or Spring, svich beds as may be badly infested, with the view of burying the 

 chrysalides sufficiently deep to ensure their destruction. Hand-picking may also be practised 

 with advantage, as the curled leaves are easily seen. 



A Cut-worm {Agrotis). 



Tliis is an insect which has been most unusually injurious during the past season on 

 the fruit plantations of Mr. Mountjoy and Mr. Buuning, on the borders of Lake Huron, 

 near Sarnia. At first its habits were not understood, and it jiursued the " even tenour of 

 its way " uninterrupted night after night ; the perplexed fruit growers not knowing why 

 it was that every day the foliage on their fruit trees and strawberry patches grew slim- 

 mer. But soon it was found that the enemy was a night worker, and this knowledge of 

 its habits was at once turned to account, and night watches instituted with the view of 

 counteracting this insidious foe, and with good results, as many as 1800 having been killed 

 by .Mr. Mountjoy in one night. 



Their manner of life may be thus described. The moths from which the worms are 

 produced appear on the wing during the month of August, and soon after pair, and de- 

 posit their eggs on the ground or on some plant or other substance near the ground ; they 

 probably hatch in the fall, and feed for a time on the leaver of grass and other plants 

 then abundant, and after attaining but a small measure of their growth, they burrow into 

 the earth, and there remain in a torpid state during the winter ; but the warmth of 

 spring revives them and soon they are abroad and active. During the first few weeks 

 while they ar^^' still small, the quantity of food they consume is not sufficient to attract 

 much attention ; but as they approach nearer maturity, that is about the time when the 

 trees first jmt out their tender foliage, the (pi.Tntity of food they consume is enormous. In 

 the day time they rest tolerably secure from harm, by burrowing a short distance under- 

 ground, and towards night they sally forth from their hiding places to begin tlieir work 

 of destruction. They are extremely active iu their mjveinents, and travel over quite a 

 space of ground in a very short time, eating almost everything green in their way ; thejr 

 climb the trunks of trees, and consume not only the young foliage, but the buds also, leaving 

 the limbs almost bare, and before the light of another day dawns they retreat to their hiding 

 places and rest in quiet. Wiien full grown they burrow deeper into the earth, and form 

 for themselves an oval cell or chambei-, in which they change to chiysalis, and from which 

 the moths are produced early in the autumn to continue the race. 



In this instance these caterjjillars took a decided liking for the strawlierry vines, and 

 in spite of the most vigilant search for them day after day and night after night, they de- 

 foliated a large iiatch of the vines to such an extent that they were utterly ruined. 

 Nearly all througli the month of June they literally swarmed and scarcely a night passed 

 without considerable damage being done by them. It was late in the month when we 

 received a package of the larva> from Mr. Mountjoy, and from which the following des- 

 cription was taken on the second of July : — ■ 



Length one and a half inches, cylindrical, coiling the body up when disturbed, and 

 discharging a green li(iuid freely from the month when handled. 



Head small, rather flat, scarcely bilobed, of a dull brownish yellow cobur, with a 

 triangular looking furrow in front, the base of the tri;ingle being towards the mouth ; 

 between the lobes the colour is of a slightly darker shade. On the upper part of each 



