38 INSECT PESTS 



beetles, and these divide themselves at once into those 

 which feed on the leaves of the grass and those which 

 carry on their destructive work among the roots in the 

 soil. In the first category are the larvae of many butter- 

 flies and moths, among them the whole series of our 

 pretty Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Heaths, Speckled Woods 

 and Graylings, but these are all harmless, and in 

 the winged state may even act as a set-off against 

 the preponderance of the Cabbage Butterflies. Then 

 there are moths, such as the Drinker, the Common 

 Wainscot, the Flounced and Square-spot Rustics, and 

 the pretty little Yellow Shell which starts up as one 

 passes along the field and hides itself in the blackberry 

 bush. All of these are grass feeders, but generally 

 innocuous. 



Then we come to those insects which devour the roots, 

 and here we must be more discriminating. Among beetles 

 there are the dreaded Wireworm and Cockchafer, also the 

 Crane Fly, but these I shall deal with under the head 

 of Soil Pests. Among moths we have the Light and 

 Dark Arches, the Ear and the Antler Moths. We need 

 hardly trouble about the root-feeding of either of the 

 first three, as the depredations of the last overwhelm 

 them all. 



The Antler Moth is not merely known, but feared, 

 on the Continent, and even in this country whole 

 acres of pasture have been destroyed by the unseen 

 activities of this quiet, brown-winged insect, which 

 damage may often be attributed to that done by 

 the Wireworms mentioned above. The advent of this 

 moth is looked upon, as I said, with terror in European 

 countries, particularly in Sweden, and it comes with great 

 suddenness, not in droves, nor in battahons, but in 

 whole armies, advancing almost by routine, from field 

 to field and slope to slope, yet out of sight, destroying 

 as it goes, leaving a shrivelled, parched wdlderness behind 

 jt, A case observed in England many years ago in the 



