68 



the larVae measure from one-seventh to one-sixth of an inch 

 in length. They are able, in common with other maggots 

 of the genus, to make a jumping movement which assists them 

 in escaping from the fruit. 



Methods of Control. 1. In small gardens, where only 

 bush fruit are grown, the best remedy is the hand-picking 

 and destruction of all infested fruit, with repeated shallow 

 cultivation of the ground beneath the trees in June and July. 



2. In larger orchards great benefit has been derived from 

 stocking heavily with poultry in April, May and June, i.e., 

 when the flies are appearing from the ground, and while the 

 maggots are leaving the fruit. 



THE PEAK AND CHERRY SAWFLY. 



(Eriocampa limacina, Cameron.) 



Pear Slugworms are neither slugs nor worms but are the 

 young (or larvae) of a species of sawfly which is found 

 throughout most of the country, though complaints are more 

 frequent from the South than from the North, and relate more 

 often to gardens than to commercial plantations. 



Plants Attacked and Nature of Damage. Fears and 

 cherries are the fruits most often injured, but there are records 

 of the pests being found on apples, while hawthorns and 

 similar shrubs suffer from the attacks of the Pear Slugwonn or 

 allied species. The damage is done to the foliage and its nature 

 is characteristic, the leaf being eaten in sucH a way that only 

 the veins and the lower epidermis (or skin) are left. In bad 

 cases every leaf is treated in this way, and in place of green 

 foliage the tree is left only with shrivelled brown skeleton 

 leaves. Naturally under such circumstances the crop is unable 

 to develop, or if the attack does not occur till late in the 

 summer, the maturing of the fruit-buds for next season is 

 prevented. 



Description and Life-History. If leaves attacked as de- 

 scribed above are examined while there are still green areas 

 left, small, slimy, slug- like grubs, black or dark olive-green in 

 colour, will be found on the surface of the leaves. In shape 

 these slugworms are broad at the head-end and pointed towards 

 the tail, rather like young tadpoles, but underneath are the 

 legs and sucker feet of the typical sawfly caterpillar. The 

 origin of the slugworms is as follows : At the end of May or in 

 June the adult, sawflies, blackish, four-winged insects of the 

 usual sawfly appearance, come out of their cocoons in the soil 



