12 FIRST REPORT ON ECONOMIC BIOLOGY. 



The full-grown caterpillar measures just over an inch and a half 

 in length. In colour they are a dull creamy white, sometimes slightly 

 tinged with green; the head a light brown, and marked with a 

 prominent Y-shaped mark. 



Pupation takes place towards the end of April or early in May. 

 They are usually enclosed in a loosely-made silken cocoon, to which 

 are attached particles of soil, or they may be free. 



The perfect insects, as pointed out above, appear towards the 

 end of May, and are extremely variable in colour. 



From Sutton Coldfield I have received on two occasions examples 

 of the larvae attacked by a parasitic fungus known as Cordyceps 

 militaris, Linn. These so-called " Vegetable Caterpillars " were par- 

 ticuarly common in this locality some few years ago. 



PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



The best results I know of have been obtained by dressing the 

 ground in the early autumn with ground unslaked lime. Soot, and 

 various soil insecticides and fumigants will also destroy the larvae. 



Constant hoeing will destroy many, but as they frequently make 

 their way some considerable distance below the surface, it is only a 

 partial remedy. 



CRANE FLY LARVAE ATTACKING BULBS. 



The different species of Crane Fly larvae (Leather Jackets) are 

 well known as pests to root and cereal crops, but I have not hitherto 

 met with them damaging bulbs until this past season. 



A Derbyshire grower forwarded me in April last a large number 

 of tulip bulbs seriously damaged by the larvae of the Spotted Crane 

 Fly, Pachyrhina maculosa, Meigen. Hundreds of bulbs had been 

 more or less destroyed 1 . 



Upon examination large numbers of the larvae were found to be 

 feeding upon the bulbs, having eaten holes into the tissue of from 

 half to three quarters of an inch in length, Four to six larvae were 

 taken from each bulb. 



I subsequently learnt that quite close to where the bulbs had been 

 planted there was a hawthorn hedge, and a considerable amount of 

 wild grasses and other weeds had been allowed to flourish there, offer- 

 ing an admirable site for the flies to deposit their eggs. 



