36 REPORT ON INJURIOUS INSECTS FOR 1905. 



All cuttings should be burnt. Infested canes should be cut 

 down between April and June. 



By far the best remedy, however, is to bury the surface soil 

 around the stocks any time between July and the following March. 



THE INDIAN-MEAL MOTH. 



Plodia inter pun ctella, Hiibner. 



Two cases of serious attacks of this moth have been reported 

 upon during the year. It is an exceedingly common pest in stores, 

 feeding upon almost anything that is edible. 



The female deposits her eggs in groups, usually varying in 

 number from three to a dozen, to the number of about three 

 hundred and fifty. Specimens kept in the laboratory hatched out 

 in four days, and commenced to feed upon semolina. The larvae 

 are a dull yellow or yellowish- white, later changing to a light 

 rose-red. As they feed, they spin long silken threads, which 

 become entangled with particles of food and excrement, joining the 

 same together, and thus injuring for food far more material than 

 they eat. When mature, the larvae surround themselves with a 

 loose, silken cocoon, in which they change to light-brown pupae. 

 If the temperature is favourable the life-cycle occupies about five 

 weeks, so that four, five, or more generations may appear in a 

 year. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



The only treatment of any value is fumigating with bisulphide 

 of carbon or hydrocyanic acid gas (see p. 53). 



THE STRAWBERRY PLUME MOTH 



Ptero-phorus pentadactylus, Linn. 



The tiny, white, hairy larvae of this moth have been for- 

 warded by different correspondents, doing damage to strawberry 

 plants and many garden plants. 



Wet weather seems fatal to the larvae, and wherever spraying 

 with soap and water was resorted to it quickly disappeared. In 

 the early part of the summer the moths were unusually numerous 

 in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Staffordshire. 



THE LILAC LEAFMINER 



Gracilaria syringella, Fabr. 



As mentioned in my last Report (p. 42), the attacks of the 

 larvae of this moth have been unusually severe. In view of the fact 

 that the number of trees attacked was far in excess of that of any 

 previous year, the life-history has been carefully worked through 

 again, and various remedial measures taken. 



