VEGETABLE GROWING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 113 



If the plants are freely dusted on the upper surface with dry tobacco dust 

 and slaked lime (see page 130), the beetles will be kept away. The work 

 should be done in the morning, when the dew causes a better adhesion of 

 the dust to the leaves. The beetles can also be collected on the foliage in 

 the etrly morning, when they are more or less torpid and slow in rising if 

 disturbed. Large numbers can be destroyed by drawing a shallow dish 

 between the rows of the plants as described on page 



The discovery a few years ago that the larvae infested the stems and roots, 

 and the pupae the soil beneath, indicated another important means of control. 

 It is obvious that if all dead pumpkin and melon plants are cleaned up and 

 burnt with any other rubbish on the ground, the hibernating beetles and 

 their eggs will be destroyed, and if the soil is turned over early in the seasoM 

 and thoroughly disturbed, most of the delicate larvae and pupae in the soil 

 will also be killed. Pumpkins, melons or related plants should not be grown 

 on the same soil in successive years. 



Buff-coloured Tomato Weevil (Desiantha nociva). 



This small ground-coloured beetle, not half an inch long, with the head 

 produced into a snout, feeds at night #nd hides by day in the soil and under 

 dead leaves and stalks around the plants. It attacks the leaves and stems 

 of tomatoes, cabbages, &c. The grubs of this beetle similarly attack the 

 plants at night and hide in the soil by day. 



It has been found simpler to trap the adult beetles (see page 132) than to 

 spray with arsenate of lead (see page 129). Taking advantage of 1 the habit 

 of sheltering under dead leaves and rubbish, a few leaves or a handful of 

 grass can be laid down alongside each plant, and other rubbish cleared away 

 Collecting the beetles for several mornings in this way and by shaking them 

 out of these traps into a bucket with a little oil and water in it will very 

 quickly reduce the pest to a minimum. 



Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Protoparce convolvuh). 



A hawk-moth is sometimes a pest of the sweet potato. The caterpillars 

 also attack convolvulus and privet foliage ; they are of a general green 

 colour, with paler coloured diagonal streaks along the sides of the body, arid 

 possess a spine or horn on top, near the hind end of the body. These caterpillars 

 may vary much in colour ; some are yellowish, and others, especially well- 

 grown specimens, may be brown and almost black. They feed voraciously, 

 riddling and even eating the leaves completely off, and grow to 3 inches in 

 length, with thick bodies. When full grown, they bury themselves several 

 inches down in the soil, where they pupate, changing into a dark chocolate- 

 brown pupa, with a curved exposed beak shaped like a jug-handle. The 

 first brood of pupae produces a second brood of moths, which again lay eggs 

 on the foliage and give rise to the second brood of caterpillars. The second 

 brood, on pupating in the soil, may remain over winter as pupae, and produce 

 the first spring brood of moths next season. 



