70 INSECT PESTS 



This crop however is also the prey of the Garden Swift 

 Moth {Hepialus lupulinus) , see Plate 16, which lays its eggs 

 on the ground or under the leaves in the autumn and 

 feeds throughout the winter on the root itself. This is 

 not the Ghost Moth, which is more injurious to Hops, 

 but its smaller cousin, and measures IJ inches 

 across the fore -wings, which are of the unusual 

 stumpy outline indicated, and are brown with whitish 

 markings, the hind wings being smoke-coloured with a 

 pale fringe. 



The Ghost Moth gets its name from the fact that the 

 male moth has beautiful white wings above, the under- 

 sides of which are sooty black. Hence, when flying at 

 dusk it appears to start up suddenly from nowhere and 

 vanish in the same mysterious way as soon as it settles 

 on a blade of grass or the stalk of a flower. 



Egg search in the first instance must be resorted to, 

 and pieces of potato inserted in the soil near by as traps 

 will attract the yellowish -white, brown headed cater- 

 pillar. As a natural check birds and moles devour both 

 larvae and pupae of these Swift Moths, and they are also 

 destroyed by the action of certain parasitical fungi. 



We now come to Potatoes. The chief enemy of the 

 almighty " spud " in this country is the fungoid disease 

 for which Bordeaux mixture is used. (See pages 

 132 to 135.) The principal insect pests consist of the 

 Garden Swift Moth already referred to, and the 

 Rosy Rustic {Hydraecia micacea) and to a less extent 

 the Death's Head Hawk Moth. The Rosy Rustic 

 measures nearly 2 inches across the fore-wings, which 

 are reddish brown in colour, crossed by a broad band 

 of very rich dark brown. The hind wings are dingy 

 grey, paler at the base. This moth should feed by rights 

 on Mare's Tail. Sedge and similar coarse weeds, but readily 

 devours the succulent potato haulm. It is simply another 

 case of diversion from a natural to a cultivated food- 

 plant. The eggs are laid around the stems, in which the 



