affecting the Clover- croj'is and Pasture-lands. 73 



appears there in wet meadows or marshes, but its devastations 

 are sometimes most extensive, as happened in the territory of the 

 Hartz in 1816 and 1817, when whole hills that in the evening 

 were clad with the finest green, were brown and bare the fol- 

 lowing morning ; and such vast numbers of the caterpillars were 

 there that the ruts of the roads leading to the hills were full of 

 them, and the roads, being covered with them, were even ren- 

 dered slippery and dirty by their being crushed in some places.*' 

 It is suggested by Kollar to dig or plough a deep and broad 

 trench round the affected spot, and then turn in pigs to eat up 

 the caterpillars. Rooks and crows are also very serviceable in 

 rendering their assistance. The continued rains which often 

 fall about midsummer generally keep this enemy in check, as 

 they bring destruction to the caterpillars when they are changing 

 their last skin, as was the case in Germany. I well remember, 

 when Mr. Dale and myself visited Keswick in July, 1827, that 

 the grass on a large portion of one side of Skiddaw appeared 

 dead, and we found multitudes of the caterpillar of the antler moth 

 crawling about. In other parts of England I have observed the 

 moths on heaths, in meadows, on the flowers of the ragwort, and 

 even in marshes, which induced me to believe that they were 

 bred there. 



To arrest the ravages of these caterpillars the following 

 remedies have been proposed, — the application of " a strong 

 dressing of lime to the land in the spring, or watering the fields 

 and meadows with lime-water in damp weather, or strewing the 

 ground with ashes of coal, peat, or turf, or lye-ashes." 



Occasionally on the Continent the ravages of the caterpillar of 

 the A(jrotis serjetis (above referred to) are fearful, as will be seen 

 by the following account from the ' Ann, Soc. Ent, de France,' 

 iii. 19 :— 



" M. Louis Coulou, of Neufchatel in Switzerland, stated that the pasturage 

 of the Jura had been devoured in June (1833) to sucli an extent by the cater- 

 pillars of N. (^Agrotis) ser/etis and the larva of (kderuca tanaceti that they were 

 not able to put the cattle there. The first devours the roots, the second the 

 extremities of the ,iT;rass which had not yet withered in consequence of the 

 ravages of the caterpillars. Peo)jle some way off even heard the noise which 

 these larvai made in eating, and the yellow tints -which spread over the pastures 

 indicated their presence." 



As this beetle is frequently exceedingly abundant in England, 

 I will add a description of it. It belongs to the FAMILY Chry- 

 SOMELID^, and is named 



31. GrALERUCA TAISfACETI, Linn. 



It is oval, and dull black, deeply and roughly punctui'ed : the 

 horns are not so long as the body, filiform, pubescent, and 11- 



* Ktillar's Treatise on Insects, London Trans. 105-136. 



