NATURE 



609 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1890. 



BRITISH FARM, FOREST, ORCHARD, AND 

 GARDEN PESTS. 

 British Farm, Forest, Orchard, and Garden Pests. A 

 Manual of Injurious Insects, with Methods of Preven- 

 tion and Remedy for their Attacks to Food Crops, Forest 

 Trees, and Fruit, to which is appended a Short Intro- 

 duction to Entomology. Compiled by Eleanor E. 

 Ormerod, F.R.Met.Soc, &c. Second Edition. (London: 

 Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, & Co., 1890.) 

 "pHE first edition of " The Manual of Injurious Insects " 

 i- was published in 1881, and was then justly con- 

 sidered by all entomologists to be the most important 

 work upon economic entomology since Kirby and Spence 

 wrote their famous " Introduction to Entomology," " com- 

 bining," as John Curtis said, "truth, instruction, and 

 amusement." It was undoubtedly also by far the most 

 exhaustive account of insects destructive to agricultural 

 and horticultural crops that had been produced since the 

 appearance of the admirable " Farm Insects " of Curtis 

 in i860. The second edition of this useful " Manual of 

 Injurious Insects" has been recently issued, and contains 

 in addition to the vast stores of information concerning 

 all manner of insects which attack farm and garden crops, 

 the results of the devoted labours, keen research, and 

 scientific observation of Miss Ormerod, during a period of 

 nine years. 



In point of volume and matter this last edition is nearly 

 twice as large as the first. As regards interest, practical 

 value, and science, it is likewise of much more impor- 

 tance, because it records the discovery of insects altogether 

 new and undescribed in this country, as well as measures 

 of prevention and remedial methods against these and 

 many other insects, that have been prescribed and 

 adopted within the past decade. It describes, in short, 

 the advance which has been made in economic entomo- 

 logy in this period, in the knowledge of insects, of their 

 life histories, and habits, and of means to protect the 

 crops of cultivators against their ravages. And no one is 

 better qualified to relate this progress than Miss Ormerod, 

 •who has herself contributed so greatly towards it. 



Most of this new matter has been previously given for 

 the edification of the public and the advantage of 

 farmers in Miss Ormerod's " Annual Reports of Observa- 

 tions of Injurious Insects and Common Farm Pests." It 

 is condensed in the new manual, and arranged under 

 different headings, or parts. These are three, the same as 

 in the first edition. Part I. — Food crops and insects that 

 injure them. Part II. — Forest trees and insects that 

 injure them. Part III. — Fruit crops and insects that 

 injure them. 



An Introduction to Entomology is given in this edition 

 as an Appendix, while in the former it precedes the three 

 pans, or divisions. It may be said of this, in passing, 

 that it will be most useful to students of entomology, as 

 it gives in concise terms the main points by which insects 

 of various orders and species may be distinguished in 

 each stage of their life histories. The classification of 

 insects is plainly set forth so that beginners may see 

 almost at a glance the primary division of insects into the 

 NO. 1095, VOL. 42] 



two great tribes, Mandibulata and Haustellata, and the 

 subdivision of the one into eight orders, and of the other 

 into five orders, in accordance with the rational arrange- 

 ment of Prof. Westwood. 



Among the troublesome insects treated of in Part I. 

 are several species of butterflies, moths, and flies which 

 attack cabbages, as the large and small white cabbage 

 butterfly, Pieris brassiccB and Pieris rapce, the cabbage 

 moth Mamestra brassicce, the cabbage fly anthomyia 

 brassicce, and others more or less injurious to the 

 brassica tribe. Complete histories are furnished of all 

 these insects, and valuable means of prevention are 

 advised and remedies suggested of a practical nature 

 that can easily be adopted, both on a large scale suitable 

 for farmers and market gardeners, as well as for gar- 

 deners and allotment holders. 



There is an important monograph of the carrot-fly, 

 Psila roscB, which will be gratefully received by market 

 gardeners and market garden farmers, as the fly has 

 in the last few years been especially destructive, not 

 only in England, but also in Scotland and Ireland. 

 This attack is generally termed " rust," because the 

 leaves of the carrots become yellowish, or rusty coloured, 

 and the roots are covered with rusty patches. To one 

 unacquainted with entomology and not having good eye- 

 sight, it is difficult to trace the cause of the disorder to 

 the tiny maggots of this fly in the roots of the plants. 

 Upon very careful examination, however, a diseased 

 carrot will be found to be swarming with legless, slimy, 

 yellowish maggots, not a quarter of an inch in length, 

 many of which are found to be sticking half in and half 

 out of the roots. Miss Ormerod says : — " The grubs may 

 be found in winter as well as summer, and attack all parts 

 of the carrot-root by gnawing galleries on the surface, or 

 into the substance of the root ; but whilst the roots are 

 young, the grub appears generally to attack the lowest 

 part." This is not always the case, for in some young 

 carrots examined in July last, which were sent from 

 Ireland, the crowns of the roots were as full of the 

 maggots as the ends. 



Under the head of prevention and remedies for this 

 affection, it is stated — 



" The following notes regarding carrot cultivation will 

 be found to bear in various ways suitable to different 

 circumstances of soil and climate on the main points of 

 — 1st, such preparation of the ground in autumn, or 

 winter, as will ensure favourable conditions for a 

 healthy, vigorous, and uninterrupted growth from the 

 first sprouting of the seed ; 2nd, thinning at such a stage 

 of growth, in such circumstances of damp weather or 

 with such watering or treatment after thinning as may 

 least expose the plants to the attack of the carrot-fly 

 which frequently occurs after this operation. Whether 

 the fly is attracted by the scent of the bruised plants, or 

 what brings it, is not clear, but it is very clear that, as it 

 goes down into the ground to lay its eggs on or by the 

 carrots, all operations which leave the soil unusually 

 loose and open lay at the 'same time the carrot roots 

 open to attack, and it will be observed that the various 

 methods of treatment in regard to thinning bear upon 

 the means of meeting this difficulty." 



This is given as one instance of Miss Ormerod's powers 

 of observation as to the habits of insects, which enable 

 her to recommend suitable and effiective remedies and 

 methods against them. The practical conclusion in this 



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