472 Insect Pests. 



are liatched. The young at once commence to devour tlie nearest 

 vegetation. This species will live for some years ; one I kept for 

 five years continued to grow all the time. Its shell is somewhat 

 rectangular, elongated and convex above, crystalline and glossy, 

 with distinct lines of growth ; margin very thin. The body is 

 slender, variable in colour. Some are black ; others yellowish-grey, 

 and spotted with black and white ; numerous tubercles cover the 

 skin ; tentacles, long and yellowish-brown ; back very much rounded ; 

 foot edged with white. Slime iridescent when dry, white when 

 fresh. 



Teeatment. 



In strawberry beds and gooseberry plantations there is no better 

 way of getting rid of slugs than penning ducks on the land. Ducks 

 devour slugs with great avidity and will soon clear these pests off. 

 Several dressings of soot and lime are also beneficial. Vaporite I 

 have found most effectual for destroying slugs. 



THE STRAWBERRY EELWORMS. 

 Cauliflower Disease Eelworm. 



{Apluicnclius fracjaria:. liitz. Bos.) 



The so-called Eelworm disease of strawberries is partly due to 

 T//l("nrJn/s devastatrix. The disease dealt with here first is also an 

 eelworm disease, but is due to a different eelworm, known as Ai^helen- 

 chus fragaria:, and it produces a curious cauliflower-like appearance 

 in the plant, whilst the former merely cause a gradual decay or 

 rotting away of the roots and crown. 



The cauliflower disease is not very widely distributed. I have 

 only once seen it in Kent, near Swanley. Carpenter (1) records it from 

 Ireland, at Bray, County Wicklow, and Ormerod (2) from St. Paul's 

 Cray, Kent, and specimens have been sent me from Southampton 

 and Surrey. 



The presence of these eelworms causes a great change in the growth 

 of the plants, aftecting mainly the short stems and the inflorescence 

 just when the blossoms should be appearing. The stems become 

 much swollen and the buds crowded into a cauliflower-like mass 

 and do not develop. When a few blossoms do show they are much 

 deformed and very small. The minute eelworms are found in 

 numbers in the buds. 



