120 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



Prevention and Remedies. 



As a deterrent, spray the trees with kerosene 

 emnlsion, and afterwards with Paris green, arsenate 

 of lead, etc., as the caterpillars, living upon the 

 tissue of the leaves and buds, are easily killed by 

 eating the poisoned leaves. I have often watched, but 

 have never yet discovered any bird eating these cater- 

 pillars ; possibly because, may be, these grubs are not 

 easily found ; or they may, as is the case with the 

 common vine-caterpillar, be distasteful to most birds, 

 although some of the cuckoos will devour them readily. 



Fortunately the moth is not a very common species, 

 although, like many others of the Lepidoptera, the 

 female lays a large number of eggs. If this moth was 

 as prolific as is the pretty little " Painted Moth of 

 Froggatt ' ' ( Teia anartoides) , the apple growers of the 

 State would have a bad time of it, as the larvae of the 

 Painted Moth have been in thousands, and there is 

 hardly a plant in a garden but what these little pests 

 will strip with extraordinary rapidity, even the hardy 

 Zonale pelargoniums, roses, etc., not being exempt from 

 their attacks. In the arsenical sprays we have a 

 wonderful remedy against all leaf-eating insects, a 

 thorough spraying, in competent hands, being all that 

 is necessary so far as the leaf -eating pests are concerned. 



In the case of locusts, green beetles, and a few other 

 pests, the enormous numbers which prevail render it 

 next to impossible to deal with the trouble unless at 

 huge expenditure, which the State may be disinclined 

 to bear. 



