l8o INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETABLES 



Union, southward through Central America and the West Indies 

 to Venezuela. The young larvae are utterly dissimilar to the 

 mature ones, and five distinct stages have been noted. 



This insect affects practically all umbelliferous crops, celery, 

 carrot, parsley, caraway, fennel, parsnip, dill, and related wild 

 plants. It does not appear to attack, except in extreme cases, 

 any plant outside of this botanical family. 



Remedies. — The conspicuous coloration of the celery cater- 

 pillars renders them an "easy mark" as they are readily found 

 and can be crushed under foot, and no other remedies are 

 necessary if the work of destruction is begun before the 

 plants are injured. The killing off of the first generation will 

 serve in considerable measure to destroy the insects for the 

 second brood, if this work be done over a considerable area. 

 The butterfly, however, is strong of flight, and cooperation must 

 be had to keep the insect in check when it becomes destructive. 



The Celery Leaf-tyer {PJilyctccnia fcrrngalis Hbn.)'. — This 

 little insect, known also as the greenhouse leaf-tyer, first came 

 to notice as a pest in i8S8. On celery it feeds by preference 

 on terminal leaves, and sometimes burrows into the stems. On 

 one occasion in the District of Columbia it was so destructive 

 that one grower had determined to abandon celery culture on 

 this account. Next year, however, the insect was less trouble- 

 some; and this was fortunate, for if it were not periodical it 

 might be a very bad pest indeed. In the field this leaf-tyer 

 attacks besides celery cabbage, beets, tobacco, lettuce, cauli- 

 flower, parsley, cucumber, sweet pea and strawberry. It causes 

 great injury to many greenhouse plants — violet, rose, chrysan- 

 themum, carnation, ivy, heliotrope, and others. 



The moth is a pale reddish-brown, expanding about three-fourths 

 of an inch. The fore-wings are pale clay brown, suffused 

 with reddish or ochreous brown, ornamented with black lines 

 (fig. 1 1 6, a, h). The hind-wings are gray, with darker margins. 



' For a detailed account see Bui. 27, Bu. Entom., U. S. Dept. Agr. 



