GAKDEN PESTS 71 



caterpillar feeds, and whence it must be pinched out 

 when found. Weeds in the immediate vicinity should 

 be cleared and burnt. Natural remedies are afforded 

 by rooks and starUngs, and the ichneumon or dipterous 

 parasites. The pupa remains in the soil during the 

 winter. (See Plate 17.) 



The Death's Head Hawk Moth, our largest insect, 

 measures 6 inches across the fore-wings, which are rich 

 brown in colour, beautifully mottled and banded with 

 deep chocolate and lighter buff tints. The hind wings 

 are yellow with black bands, as also is the abdomen. The 

 scientific name is Acherontia atropos. This caterpillar 

 is known about the country as a " locust " and is fortu- 

 nately not too common, though its depredations are soon 

 apparent, seeing that a few of them can make quite a 

 brave show. One elephant in a rice field may be cited 

 as a comparison. It is almost as large as a banana, and a 

 very curious card. When startled it utters a strange 

 chattering cry, and the moth, which bears the ominous- 

 looking skull mark on the top of the thorax which gives 

 it its name, makes a noise like the squeak of a mouse, 

 for which reasons the insect has been regarded with super- 

 stition by the fearsome, there being of course no founda- 

 tion for' such ideas. The huge pupa may be found in 

 the soil at the base of trees. There is a natural enemy 

 in the form of a large ichneumon fly measuring over an 

 inch across the wings. (See Plate 17.) 



The foregoing examples represent the principal garden 

 pests . I thought it best to include the turnip in the preced- 

 ing chapter, as although it is fairly a garden crop, still 

 the larger sorts, as well as swedes, are perhaps rightly 

 grouped as field crops. 



The following chapter will take up quite a different 

 aspect of the subject in dealing with Fruit Trees. 



