156 Second Report on Eco/io/m'c Zoology, 



away from the roots of garden plants for a time. They may l>e 

 collected in numbers by placing pieces of scooped out mangels just 

 under the ground near the plants they are attacking. They swarm 

 over the baits, and may tlien be collected and destroyed. Another 

 certain way of killing them is by injecting bisulphide of carbon into 

 the soil. They may also be trapped by soaking leaves of cabbage in 

 Paris green and putting them about gardens. The JVIillipedes feed 

 upon the green stuff and either get poisoned or can be collected. 



The Dot Moth. 



{Mamcstra pci'sicari(e, Linn.) 



Caterpillars of the Dot Moth, whicli were causing damage in 

 London gardens, were sent to the Board by Mr. W. C, Barnard. 



The Dot Moth caterpillars are very frequently recorded as pests. 

 Their food-plants vary much ; as a rule garden flowers, such as 

 dahlias, marguerites, marigolds, pansies, geums, etc., suffer most ; 

 vegetables are also eaten by these larvte, including cabbages of all 

 kinds, lettuce, mint, parsley ; fruit trees and bushes are also attacked ; 

 there are numerous accounts of theh" feeding on gooseberry and now 

 and again on apple, plum, raspberry, currant. Other plants upon 

 which they feed are lilac, poplar, clematis, ivy, etc. 



They are ravenous feeders, stripping the plants in a very short time. 



This insect is found all over Great Britain and in most parts of 

 Europe. 



The caterpillars are subject to great variation in colour, apparently 

 influenced to some extent by their food-plant, the colouring rendering 

 them often extremely difficult to find wlien at rest upon their food- 

 plant. 



Life-history. 



The moth appears in June and July. In size it varies from an 

 inch and a half to an inch and three-quarters ; the front wings are 

 blackish (with a dull purplish gloss when fresh) marked with rusty 

 brown marks, with small pale spots at the tips and the hindermost 

 edge, often, however, indistinct and with a large white kidney- 

 shaped dot, often very pronounced ; the hind wings are dusky-grey 

 shading into dull whitish at the base. They fly at night and 

 deposit their eggs upon the food-plants ; as many as thirty are laid 

 by each female. The larvte appear from the beginning of July, 

 until the latter part of August, tlie last liatched ones not maturing 

 until the end of September, and some even being found as late as 



