ON PESTS GENERALLY. 



IO91 



Fig. 702. — Eggs of 

 Lackey Moth. 



conspicuous as to colour. The head is bluish-grey; the body is 

 reddish-orange above, but greyish-blue on the sides ; while the 

 dorsal line is white, with a black edge. There is also a wavy 

 orange line in the vicinity of the spiracles ; and on several 

 segments are a number of black spots. 

 The whole insect is hairy. 



Apple-trees are chiefly attacked amongst 

 cultivated fruits; but, in the shrubbery 

 Hawthorns are frequently infested. The 

 caterpillars live in a common nest, to 

 which they return after feeding. In wet 

 or dull weather they do not venture forth, 

 and then is the cultivator's opportunity for 

 getting rid of the pests, by cutting out the 

 nest and dropping it into a pail containing 

 an insecticide. Towards the end of the 

 larval life the caterpillars separate, and 

 assume the pupal state on or near the 

 food-plants. The Moths are on the wing 

 in late summer, the females depositing 

 their eggs in rings (Fig. 702). The insects 

 are yellow of some shade, and have trans- 

 verse bands upon the fore-wings, varying 

 from pale yellow to brown. 



Paris Green should be sprayed upon the trees, as the cater- 

 pillars are leaf-feeders. In winter the characteristic rings of eggs 

 should be searched for and cut off, as this will prevent the tree 

 from being attacked in the following spring, when in the ordinary 

 way such eggs would hatch out. 



Leather -Jackets (Tipula). — An appropriate name for the 

 tough larvae of certain Crane Flies, or Daddy Long-Legs 



(Fig. 703). The perfect insects are 

 so well characterised that no de- 

 scription is necessary. They are 

 usually found skimming over lawns 

 and gardens in autumn. The 

 Leather - Jacket grubs are rather 

 more than an inch long, and 

 reddish, covered with tubercles, 

 and with a black head. They are 

 provided with biting jaws. The 

 plants most attacked in the garden 

 are the members of the Brassica 

 family (Cabbages, Cauliflowers, 

 &c.) ; lawns, especially if damp 

 and badly drained ; and cereal and grass crops. Insecticides are 

 of no avail, and though trapping in the case of garden crops may 

 be productive of a little good, it is not of much use with such 



4 a 2 



Fig. 703. — Daddy Long-Legs. 



