Fig. 3. 



Cut worms have, upon the whole, been less abundant this year. Mr. Moffat tells 



me that they were very injurious in gai'dens about Lon- 

 don this spring, but owing to the long continued wet 

 weather most of them had failed to mature, and con- 

 sequently there were very few of the moths to be seen. 

 Early in the season they were reported to liave been 

 very abundant in Alberta, but I have heard no par- 

 ticulars since. At Port Hope they were troublesome 

 as usual when the young plants were first set out in the 

 spring. Lately the moths of several species, especially 

 Iladena devastator and sputatrix Agrolis jacvlifera 

 ypsilon (Fig. 3) herilis and tricosa, have been very 

 abundant, and will probably produce a large crop of 

 worms for next year. 



The Zebra caterpillar (Mamestra picta, Harris) 

 Fig. 4, has been unusally abundant this year. Its 

 favourite food is cabbage, but I have found it injurious 



to salsify, beets, spinach, lettuce and other vegetables, and common also upon many 



weeds. The caterpillar (Fig. 4, a) is easily recognized, being more than ordinarily hand- 

 some. When fully grown it is about two 



inches long, of a velvety black colour, with 



the head and legs red, and two bright 



yellow stripes along each side; between 



these stripes there are numerous cross 



bars of yellow, which are so striking that 



they have caused the worm to be known 



as the Zebra caterpillar. The moth (Fig. 



4 b.) does not compare with it in beauty, 



being dull and inconspicuous in colour ; its 



fore-wings are deep brown, shaded with 



purple and marked with paler spots in the 



middle ; the hind wings are white, faintly 



edged with brown on the outer margin. It 



is apparently double-brooded, as we have 



found the caterpillars in July and August 



and also in October. When young the cater- 

 pillars are gregarious and feed all together 



on the underside of a leaf. In the case 



of the cabbage they thus make a con- 

 spicuous white spot, and the whole brood can easily be picked off and crushed under foot, 



but when they are older they scatter over the leaves and are much more difficult to deal with. 

 The Cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapoe, Linn) Fig. 5 represents the male and Fig. 6 the 



female, has been remarkably abundant about Port Hope this year, and very common in 



Fig. 4. 



the various parts of the province that I have chanced to visit. Its injuries must be very 

 considerable, judging from what I have observed myself. The most satisfactory method 



