FERN FOES AND REMEDIES 59 



grubs in the soil may be known in the winter, if any fronds are 

 noticed as wilted, and when pulled come quite freely away from 

 the caudex. The only way then is to turn the plant out of the pot, 

 pick out the offenders, thoroughly wash the roots, to make certain 

 none are actually embedded in the caudex, as they frequently 

 are, and then re-pot what is left. Plunging the pot under water to 

 drown them, as we have seen suggested, is no good at all, since we 

 have submerged some for three weeks and found them survive. 

 This process, however, will bring a few to the surface of the soil, 

 but not those which are deeply embedded, and hence is only a 

 partial remedy. Two remedies have recently been introduced, 

 named " Kilogrub " and " Vaporite," both in the form of dark 

 grey powders, which are applied by boring holes in the soil, filling 

 them with the remedy and then tamping or stopping the hole with 

 soil, which the fumes then penetrate, killing the grub but without 

 injury to the plants. From reliable sources we have had good 

 reports of these, but cannot speak from experience. The Beetle 

 we have found does not travel as a rule far from its larder, and can 

 usually be found hidden, if not caught in flagrante delicto, some- 

 where about the plant or the pot. If difficult to find, say in pans 

 of seedlings which are seen to be attacked, plunging under water 

 will bring the Beetles out in a few minutes, since they cannot long 

 stand immersion as do the grubs. The Beetles are largely night 

 feeders, but by no means exclusively so. They are very cunning, 

 dropping to the earth at the slightest alarm and shamming death, 

 so that as they match the soil in colour, they are difficult to find. 

 If gently approached when feeding, they are easily caught by 

 means of a little paper scoop, five or six inches long, tied to the end 

 of a thin bamboo. The scoop being gently passed beneath them, 

 a little tap will cause them to drop into it and thus be secured. 



Sometimes an invasion of Caterpillars causes great havoc in the 

 late summer, and can only be met by persistent hand-picking. As 

 these, with the exception of such rambling species as the Woolly 

 Bear, are generally the result of eggs being laid in the house itself, 

 no pains should be spared to catch any moths which are seen in it, 

 and it is well if the ventilators are screened with wire gauze or 

 perforated zinc to prevent their entrance. The attack of a Cater- 

 pillar can always be discriminated from that of a Weevil, by the 

 latter eating from the edge, the former as a rule making a hole to 

 begin with. The above are the principal foes, but occasionally 

 others present themselves. The Lady Ferns especially, in some 

 seasons, are apt to be attacked by a fly which, when the fronds are 

 of some height and still unfolding, pierces the stalk a few inches 

 from the uncoiling top and inserts an egg or two. The immediate 

 result is the wilting and dying of the uncoiling part down to the 

 wound, which is imperceptible. The ultimate result is the hatch- 

 ing of the eggs into, usually two, light blue caterpillars or maggots, 



