THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



SEPTEMBER, 1837. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. A Series of Articles on the Insects most injurious to Culti- 

 vators. By J. O. Westwood, F.L.S., Secretary to the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London. 



No. 7. Rose Moths. 

 -No florist's flowers are more highly prized, both by florists and 

 garden-lovers in general, than the rose; and, at the same time, 

 there is scarcely any plant which is more liable to the attacks of 

 insects. Not to mention the aphides, which occasionally swarm 

 to so great an extent, at certain seasons, on particular varieties, 

 as to render the plant too weak to be able to accomplish its 

 flowering ; the saw-flies, several species of which feed upon the 

 leaves, in the larva state; the mining Tineae, whose larvae render 

 the leaves unsightly by tracing their serpentine track within the 

 substance of the leaf; the leaf-cutter bees (Megachile), which 

 cut out circular patches from the leaves to form the lining of 

 their cells ; or a species of the curious genus Lyda (belonging 

 to the family Tenthredinidse), whose habits I have investigated, 

 and which constructs a large portable case of pieces of the 

 leaves, which it ingeniously cuts out, and then fastens round its 

 body in a spiral direction, a course of proceeding quite unlike 

 any thing hitherto observed in the family to which it belongs; 

 there are yet several small species of moths, which, in the 

 caterpillar state, are still more injurious than all these, by gnaw- 

 ing away the tender parts of the shoots and buds whilst very 

 young, so that, when the bud attains its full size, it is found to 

 have half of the petals devoured ; besides the ugly appearance 

 given to the plant by the leaves being fastened together, pre- 

 vented from assuming their ordinary elegant appearance, and 

 partially devoured. Hence, it will be easily conceived that these 

 insects are far more obnoxious to the rosarium than any of the 

 others mentioned above ; and, indeed, they are sometimes so 

 numerous, especially in the early-blowing varieties, that it is as 

 common to hear the ordinary presence of a blight on the rose 

 Vol. XIII.— No. 90. c c 



