514 PREVENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF INSECT PESTS. 



left about in heaps as we often see them, for numberless ova of 

 psylla, aphis, lackey moth, and winter moth may be upon them ; a 

 cursory examination with a lens will soon show their presence. 

 Clean farming is the essential of insect prevention, and this especi- 

 ally applies to fruit. Examine in winter an old apple-tree covered 

 with rough bark, moss, and lichens, and we may find numberless 

 larvEG of the oodhng moth, American - blight insects, earwigs, 

 weevils, &o., sheltering beneath. Cleaning the bark in winter will 

 do away with many destructive creatures. Some insect enemies are 

 found beneath the fruit-trees in the ground in winter, but some de- 

 structive species come into activity during the cold months of the 

 year — namely, the winter motJis. These moths appear from October 

 to April, and lay their eggs upon the twigs and buds. The females 

 are wingless in some (March moth), nearly so in others (Winter 

 moth), and ascend the tree-trunks to deposit their eggs : the males, 

 however, may carry a few up to the tree in copuld. Those crawling 

 up the trunk are easily captured by grease-handing. This method 

 has now been in vogue for some time. Banding of another sort is 

 useful in gardens and orchards — namely, for codling moth larr(v. 

 The best plan for this pest is to tie round the trunk about a foot 

 from the ground a wisp of hay or sacking in May : here the larvae 

 find a shelter in which to pupate, and can then be taken off with 

 the sacking or wisp in the winter and burnt. 



Another insect which may be trapped is the click beetle, the 

 parent of the wireworm. This is done by placing small masses of 

 green stuff, lucerne or sainfoin, under a board in gardens from April 

 to July, when numbers of click beetles will be found sheltering be- 

 neath during the daytime, and may then be destroyed with the 

 ova they have laid below the lucerne. Leather-jackets may also be 

 caught by placing large lumps of rotting turf upon the ground 

 where they are abundant. 



Considerable damage is often done to fruit, peas, &c., in gardens 

 by a group of beetles called Weevils {Curculionida:). These beetles 

 can always be told by their having a snout and elbowed antennae 

 {vide p. 154). They are destructive both in the imago and larval 

 stages, the adults devouring leafage and the lai'vtiB rootage of 

 plants. Weevils are always extremely sensitive, and fall to the 

 ground at the least shook, when they curl their legs in and feign 

 death. The larvse are always curved, white, wrinkled, footless 

 grubs, and generally feed close to the sm-face during the winter 

 months. Many weevils {Otiorhynchus) have no wings. This genus 



