292 LEPIDOPTERA. 



farmer, gnawing its way into the solid turnip from the imder- 

 side, and feeding in the hollow night after night, until decay- 

 sets in and the turnip is destroyed. Mr. Newman, in his 

 "British Moths," has a most effective illustration of a turnip, 

 in the underside of which, in a large cavity, are ensconced 

 no less than eight well-grown larvas of this species. In corn- 

 fields the injury done is equally great, the young plants being 

 bitten off and left upon the ground. Carrots, swede turnips, 

 beet, cabbage, mustard, and other cultivated plants, as well 

 as seedlings in gardens, are equally to its taste, and in its 

 more abundant years the loss occasioned by it is at times 

 very heavy — especiall}'" in countries in which its natural 

 enemies, the birds, are discouraged. It is an object of special 

 attention to economic entomologists, and the plans and nos- 

 trums devised for its abatement are very numerous. Kollar 

 says that the Russian Government advertised for a prize 

 essay on the means of its destruction ; and it was the subject 

 of an essay for which a prize was given by the Entomological 

 Society of London between fifty and sixty years ago. 



Pupa of ordinary form, reddish-brown, beneath the 

 surface of the ground in a small earthen chamber. 



The moth hides in the daytime upon the ground among 

 grass, weeds, or dead leaves, or on banks among dry roots, 

 and in almost any closely concealed situation. If disturbed 

 it runs away swiftly or kicks its way from place to place 

 with its strong bristly hind legs. At dusk it flies, and also 

 during the night, visiting flowers and honey-dew on the 

 leaves of trees, and comes to sugar upon tree trunks in such 

 numbers at times as almost to cover the patches, and drive 

 away more desirable visitors. 



Abundant throughout England and Ireland, also in the 

 south and east of Scotland, but apparently much less 

 frequent in the west and north-west of that country, and not 

 recorded from the Scottish Isles. Sir Thomas Moncrieff 

 says that it ascends the hills to about an altitude of 600 feet 



