46 DIAMOND-BACK MOTH. 



the trees, as the caterpillar is a silk producer, and has 

 great powers of clinging to the leaves, and also of 

 weaving and interweaving silk supports and body bands, 

 but it would be worth trying whether sudden syringing 

 with soft-soap wash would not be of use. 



Fowls are said not to help much where they have 

 been tried, for they have been found to nip leaves from 

 the trees, but not to touch the caterpillars, except when 

 they were in motion. They are remarkably free from 

 attacks of parasite insects. 



Picking cocoons off the trees, and turning over the 

 soil to throw out such cocoons as are just below the 

 surface or bury others, would lessen the amount of the 

 coming attack ; and also, as the moths are noted as being 

 sluggish, it might answer well to shake the trees at 

 whatever time the moths are sleepiest, so that the 

 moths should fall on cloths below, and gather them up 

 and destroy, or trample them on the ground as they 

 fall. E. A. 0. 



FAM. TINEIDJE. 

 PLUTELLA CBUCIFEBARUM, Zell. (Fig. 21.) 



Plutella cruciferarum, Zeller, Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1843, 

 p. 281.* 



Diamond-back Moth. 



The front wings are long and narrow, greyish brown, 

 darker towards the centre, but paler and marked with 

 some small brown spots in front ; a rather broad whitish 

 or ochreous grey band along the hinder margin, with 

 three rounded projections on its front edge : this band is 

 usually spotted with very small dark points, and in 

 some specimens it is considerably obscured by the 

 ground colour on the hinder margin, leaving the three 

 projecting parts alone conspicuous. The hind wings 

 are narrow and pointed at the apex, have a long fringe, 



* For the identification of this small moth (rather a difficult matter, 

 from the injured state in which the specimens were sent) I am indebted 

 to the kindness of Lord Walsingham. E. A. 0. 



