45^J 



Marvels of Insect Life, 



More akin to the mottled umber, but unlike it in colour and markings, is the 

 early moth,^ which appears in January or February on hawthorn hedgerows after 

 dark. The male has the fore-wings dark brown, with two lines and a central spot 

 of a darker tint, and the hind-wings pale brown with a central dot, and a thin, dark 

 line across them. The female has the wings too small to be of any use to her. 

 The caterpillar is green, striped and spotted with white along the back and sides. 

 It may be found in spring feeding upon whitethorn, blackthorn, and plum-trees. 

 Another relation of early habits is known as the spring usher,- but as its time of 

 appearance is February, it has about the same relation to the spring as the snowdrop 

 has among flowers. The female is worse off in the matter of wings than the pre- 

 ceding species, so far as wings may be considered from the decorative point of view, 

 a tuft of scales at the shoulders being their sole representation ; practically she 



is no worse off than the others. The caterpillar is 

 green, lined with vellow and mottled with brown. 

 It is an oak-feeder, and may be found in April and 

 May. Several other species leave the chrysalis at 

 the same inclement season, and yet others between 

 winter and spring, when few persons would suspect 

 moths to be on the wing. The belief that such 

 Insects are restricted to the warm nights of summer 

 would soon be dispelled if the dweller in the 

 suburbs or country towns 

 glance at the public lamps 

 He would frequently see 



iluttering against the glass in a vain effort to reach 

 the source of light within. 



would occasionallv 

 on his way home 

 in winter, moth^ 



The Vine- Aphis. 



are those who think our Board of 

 and its predecessors have been on 



Phol,! by. 



tcp, F.L.. 



There 

 Agriculture 

 occasion too much inclined to get into a state of 



Small Brindled Beauty. 



The two sexes of this moth are shown — the 

 female the spider-like creature above. They 

 make their appearance in February. 



panic over feared importations of pests, as they did 

 over the potato-beetle and the San Jose scale ; and 

 certainly writers of horticultural and forestry hand- 

 books are too prone to describe as terrible pests Insects which, though 

 known to spread ruin in other countries, have been proved by long 

 experience to be negligible quantities here, thanks to our much-abused 

 climate. Still, it is well to be always on guard, for we have a large 

 body of evidence showing that a species that has never caused great concern in 

 the place of its origin will often run riot when introduced to a new country and 

 spread ruin far and wide. One need only mention the well-known results of the 

 sentimental introduction of thistles, watercress, and rabbits from Britain to her 

 Colonies at the Antipodes to illustrate the truth of this statement ; and another 

 striking instance is the introduction to Europe of an insigniiicant j^lant-louse from 

 North America. This unsuspected introduction on American vines took place 



' Hybernia rupicaprana. - H. lcucoph?caria. 



