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The History of Charceas Graminis, the Grass or Antler 

 Moth, on the Borders. By James Hardy. 



During the past summer (1885) the pastures of tlie hilly country 

 round the head of the Ettrick were attacked by a scourge of 

 caterpillars almost as destructive as the Field Mice, which hare 

 now disappeared almost as marvellously, as they suddenly became 

 formidable. My object in this article is to collect and combine 

 the scattered notices of the history of the insect, the Charecas 

 Graminis, or Grass or Antler Moth, principally as it has appeared 

 on the Borders, to serve as a record of its alarming visitations, 

 which are probably always to be reckoned upon as likely to 

 occur periodically in seasons of excessive drought, against which 

 there is no human remedy. Several of the Club's members, 

 including the Rev. James Farquharson, the Club's former 

 President, and other friends, have aided me with their communi- 

 cations ; and I am especially indebted to Miss Ormerod for placing 

 the remarks in her annual "Keports on Injurious Insects" for 

 1884-5 at my disposal, and for the use of her blocks to represent 

 the caterpillars and the moth ; that of the moth being an electro 

 from Messrs W. H. Allen & Co., Paternoster Eow, London. 



The first public notice of the insects' presence in overwhelming 

 numbers appeared in the Southern Reporter newspaper, of July 

 7th 1885, published at Selkirk. "During the last fortnight 

 immense swarms of caterpillars have appeared on the farms in 

 the upper region of the valley of Ettrick, causing great destruction 

 to the herbage. They were first observed on the farms of Potburn 

 and Over Phawhope, and their approach has evidently been from 

 the south. As evidently is their line of march towards the north, 

 and now they are infesting the farms as far down the vale as 

 Eamseycleuch. At first their ravages seemed to be limited for 

 the most part to coarse benty land, but now the bogs and grassy 

 lands are equally a prey to them. They oat the grass down to 

 the ground, and on some parts of the land it is totally eaten up. 

 Some observers describe them as in a weak and numb state, and 

 when they fall into the sheep drains are unable to get out again, 

 and they might be gathered in barrowfuls from some of these 

 places. An informant travelling over the hills from St Mary's 

 Loch on Sunday had his attention arrested by the vast numbers 

 of them ; and although he and other residents have in bygone 

 y:ears witnessed swarms of thorn in the district, nothing 1 like t*he 



