210 liOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



and attaekiiiic iiiaiiy j)laiit.s, oven having been detected as a marauder in 

 fruit orchards. In 18'J5 the moths of this species wore observed in enor- 

 mous numbers in several parts of Western Ontario, and complaints were 

 received of their swarming into houses, where the}- gave annoyance by 

 soiling clothes and curtains, and also by dying in large numbers in shop 

 Avindows. As was to be expected, the caterpillars were very numerous 

 and destructive in the same districts during the following summer, large 

 areas of wheat, oats and corn being so injured that they were ploughed up. 

 'No practical remedy has yet been devised, for wide application, 

 against insects which attack cereal crops when growing in the field; 

 but, by studying the life history of each species and thus becoming ac- 

 quainted with the exact time at which it will finish its growth and 

 cease its injuries, mnch may be done to escape nnnecessary loss by 

 making the fullest use of laud at the time wlien there is no longer any 

 danger in planting. In some instances where fields were stripped bare 

 .by these caterjiillars, the owners were advised to sow the land again 

 with suitable crops diu-ing the second week in June, and, as a result, 

 insteiad of the fields remaining unprofitable for the rest of the year, as 

 was the case in many places, these farmers obtained good returns. A 

 method of clearing land infested by cutworms, the value of which is 

 now getting to bo recognized more widely by farmers, is the turning 

 in of turkeys and other poultry. A full appreciation of the value of 

 the work done by these birds will certainly have a good effect by open- 

 ing the eyes of fanners to the good services which are year by year 

 rendered by the flocks of wild birds whose visits to fields under cultiva- 

 tion are too often misunderstood. 



The Pea Moth (Semasia nigricana, Steph.). — For many years 

 housekeepers have known that garden pease were seriously attacked 



by the small caterpillars of a 



^^^ \ , ^ ^..^ moth, and, unless care was 



^^^^^Ùft— — ^ EmSmt. taken in shelling pease, some 



^^^^H^^^^^ ^^^m|F of these " worms " were sure to 



^^B^^^^^^^^ appear on the table. As far as 



y^^^H0^ , , ^^^ I can learn, nothing Avas pub- 



^^^^ ,.j.iW»ri« I lished upon the habits of this 



insect of .which these "worms' 

 were the caterpillars, until 1894, 

 FiR. 3.— The Pea Moth-natural size and ^,yhcn the tirst of several articles 

 enaiRcc. concerning it appeared (T^eji. 



Exp. Farms, 1894). From the time of the year at which the perfect moth 

 emerges, it would seem that the early planting of peas of an early variety, 

 is the best way to avoid loss from this insect; but up to the present, 

 beyond the breeding of the moth from half-grown caterpill'ars. little 



