DIAMOND-BACK MOTH. 1-^7 



the lighthouse covered with them. The lighthouse keepers informed 

 him that on the previous night such a great cloud of moths was driven 

 over by the north-east wind that they were obliged to keep sweeping 

 them off the lantern throughout the night in order to allow the light 

 to be seen at sea. Mr. Paynter sent some of these moths to Lord 

 Walsingham (who, it may be remarked in passing, is a highly skilled 

 entomologist), who identified them as Diamond-backs. 



The chief points of the above appeared in various papers. I quote 

 from the ' Agricultural Gazette ' for August 24th, 1891. 



Mr. Fenwick Wilson, of Marden, Whitley, also not far from the 

 Northumbrian coast, mentioned : " A common opinion exists in this 

 neighbourhood that the moth crossed over from the Continent. Some 

 fishermen I have spoken to say that about the end of June moths were 

 about the shores in enormous quantities, and were spoken of by them 

 at that time. If it is possible for them to come from abroad that very 

 much supports the theory." 



Further north still the observation of a vast appearance of moths 

 on the seacoast was thus reported by Mr. Balsillie, of St. Andrews, 

 Fife : "On the last days of June an extraordinary number of small 

 greyish-brown moths were observed all along the eastern seaboard of 

 the county of Fife infesting the Turnip-fields. Their appearance was 

 coincident with a long-continued drought, and though the plants had 

 brairded, they were making exceedingly little progress. On Monday, 

 July 20th, or as nearly as may be three weeks after the appearance of 

 the moths, both Swede and yellow Turnips presented the appearance 

 as if lime had been sown on them. On looking more particularly, it 

 was found that the plants were infested with small green caterpillars, 

 which had eaten the underside of the blade, leaving the thin film on 

 the upper surface. In this way whole fields were destroyed. In other 

 cases portions of a field seemed to escape with little damage. " 



Some reference to first observations of appearance of moths pre- 

 ceding outbreak of attack will also be found amongst the observations 

 of contributors, and some further notes on the subject in the following 

 summary. 



Geneeal Summary. 



In the foregoing records of observations, it will be seen that I have 

 given scarcely any which were not accompanied by specimens, so as to 

 enable me to identify the attack. 



With many kinds of crop attacks there is no difficulty in any 

 observer, who has once been shown the characteristics, knowing per- 

 fectly what is going on ; but, as there are several kinds of green 

 caterpillars that feed on Turnip leafage, and, in this instance, the 



