ON PESTS GENERALLY. I097 



Thrips. — The very minute insects classed under this heading 

 are found upon all sorts of plants, both outside and indoors. 

 They are, as previously stated, dis- 

 figuring to Rose-blossoms ; they also infest 

 Peas amongst vegetable crops ; while as 

 fruit-pests they are chiefly notorious 

 in connection with Grapes and Peaches. 

 The insects are too small for their outward 

 conformation to be visible to the naked 

 ■eye. When viewed under a glass they are 

 •of the shape shown at Fig. 709, their 

 narrow wings being delicately fringed with 

 hairs, and their general colour being dark. Fig. 709.— Thrip. 



They belong to the Thysanoptera, an order (much magnified.) 



of insects about which little comparatively 



is known. Thrips may be got rid of by means of water used 

 at a temperature of i5odeg., or of a good vaporising insecticide. 



Vapourer Moth (Orgy/a antigua). — This is one of the 

 ■commonest of garden pests, and there is scarcely any tree that 

 comes amiss to its large, hairy, tufted caterpillars. Our London 

 squares are infested with the pests, which attack any and every 

 tree near — Hazels, Hawthorns, and Roses are favourites; but 

 Maples and fruit-trees are badly infested. The caterpillars 

 are strikingly beautiful. They are about i^in. long when 

 full-fed ; grey, with red spots in the dorsal region, and 

 whitish hairs. The most remarkable parts of the caterpillar 

 are the peculiar tufts on the body, which vary, with their 

 disposition on the segments, from black to yellowish. The 

 female Moth is incapable of flight, but her mate has ample 

 •wings, and may be seen flying in the daytime. He is iin. or 

 more in wing-expanse, and is a combination of ochreous-brown 

 and orange-brown. The eggs are deposited on the old cocoons, 

 which are hairy, and usually spun upon the food-plant or in 

 the vicinity. All eggs, females, and cocoons, should be destroyed. 

 Trees and shrubs, where possible, should be sprayed with 

 Paris Green. Very little assistance does the gardener get from 

 ■the birds, which will not tackle such hairy caterpillars as those 

 •of. the Vapourer Moth, they being very objectionable if not 

 actually poisonous. Fortunately they are very conspicuous, and 

 may therefore be hand-picked. This Moth is a near relative of 

 the pest known as the Nun (Psilura monacha), which in Germany 

 is exceedingly destructive to Conifers. 



Wasps. — All the Social Wasps known to this country are 

 more or less injurious in gardens where there is ripened or 

 ripening fruit. They are too well known to need any description. 

 The first thing that the gardener should do is to destroy all 

 Queen-Wasps in spring, as these are the founders of the colonies 



