250 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



and the broccoli, this larva is terribly destructive, 

 burrowing through and through the very heart of the 

 vegetable, and leaving behind it a track or gallery, 

 filled with the watery juices of the plant and the ejecta 

 of the caterpillars. 



The colour of the upper wings of this Moth is dark 

 greyish-brown, mottled variously with darker brown 

 and grey. The lower wings are paler brown, with a 

 smoky or blackish tint. The caterpillar is exceedingly 

 variable in its colours, but is generally olive-brown 

 above and yellow below, and on the back of each 

 segment is a blackish triangular mark in which are two 

 white dots. Sometimes the body is pale dusky-green 

 above and below. When full-fed it descends to the 

 earth, makes a shallow burrow in it, and changes to a 

 smooth brown chrysalis. Both the Moth and cater- 

 pillar are plentiful through the summer, and during 

 the autumn the ground may be nearly cleared of pupae 

 by judicious digging and hand-picking. 



THE family of the Noctuidae will be represented 

 by two examples, the first of which is the TURNIP 

 MOTH (Agrotis segetunt], which is shown on page 

 251. 



This is a small and inconspicuous Moth, but it 

 does far more damage than many Moths of much 

 larger size and more conspicuous colouring. The 

 larva of this insect is to turnips what that of the 

 last-mentioned insect is to the cabbage, and with this 

 difference, that whereas the Cabbage caterpillar 

 works above ground and may be detected by the eye, 

 'the Turnip caterpillar works for the most part below 



