ENTOMOLOGY 167 



grown and correspondingly thick ; it has a series of oblique pale lines 

 along the sides and a prominent tail ; in color there are three vari- 

 eties, pale green, dark green and almost black. They are very vo- 

 racious feeders, and soon strip the foliage from a plant; but being 

 so conspicuous they can be readily got rid of by hand picking. 

 When growth is completed, the caterpillars burrow into the earth 

 and form a cell in which they transform to a dark brown chrysalis, 

 which has attached to the head and underside of the thorax a pro- 

 jection resembling the handle of a jug and containing the enor- 

 mously long sucking tube with which the moth is provided. Usu-' 

 ally it remains buried in the ground until spring, but occasionally 

 some of the moths come out in the autumn if the weather should be 

 warm. They are large, handsome, swiftly flying creatures, ashen- 

 gray in color with a variety of paler and darker lines and markings ; 

 the abdomen is ornamented with five large orange spots on each side 

 which give the insect a very characteristic appearance. These To- 

 mato worms have often been supposed to be poisonous, and many 

 marvellous tales have been told of their deadly stings and bites; 

 they are, however, quite incapable of either stinging or biting, and 

 may be handled without the least danger. 



Corn Ear-Worm. This, which has been described above, fre- 

 quently attacks green tomatoes before they are fully grown and 

 bores large holes which utterly destroy the fruit. It also feeds on 

 tobacco, eating into the unripe seed capsules and devouring the con- 

 tents. In the case of tomatoes the only plan seems to be to cut 

 off and destroy all the infested green fruit. Where tobacco is ex- 

 tensively grown, if there should be an annual attack of these cater- 

 pillars, it would be advisable to grow a strip of corn as a trap-crop 

 along the sides of the field; the moths would lay their eggs on the 

 young ears of corn in preference to the tobacco plant, and these 

 could be gathered and burnt or fed to pigs before the worms attain 

 to maturity. 



TURNIPS. 



Turnips are attacked by several of the insects already described 

 as enemies of the cabbage, viz., the Zebra Caterpillar, the Diamond- 

 back Moth, the Cabbage Maggot, and the same species of Plant- 

 louse (Aphis) . The last mentioned insect has been more complained 

 of recently by turnip growers than any other pest ; its ravages in late 

 summer and autumn of 1908 were widespread over Canada, due to 

 the prolonged dry, warm weather which was favorable to their in- 

 crease, and in many cases whole fields were rendered worthless. The 

 usual remedies, kerosene emulsion and strong soapsuds, were found 

 effective when applied in time ; but in most cases the attack was not 

 noticed till the damage was beyond repair. Much may be accom- 

 plished by keeping a sharp look-out for the colonies of plant-lice 

 when hoeing is being done; an affected plant should be at once cut 

 out and the lice crushed under foot; early measures of this kind will 

 prevent a serious infestation later on. 



Turnip Flea-Beetle. Differs from our other species in having 

 a wavy yellowish stripe down each side of the wing covers, but its 



