NOTES AND QUERIES. 359 



INSECTS. 



The Diamond-back Moth. — According to a Yorkshire entomologist, 

 Mr. J. E. Robson, the recent visitation of the Turnip Diamond-back Moth, 

 Plutella cruciferarum, was of continental origin. The moths, the cater- 

 pillars from the eggs of which have done so much mischief, reached our 

 shores, he maintains, on June 24th last. The data on which this con- 

 clusion is based are that for long previously to Midsummer Day easterly 

 winds prevailed, and these would assist in bringing the moths across the 

 sea ; that it is hardly possible the moths would have hatched out in such 

 prodigious numbers without farmers, gardeners, or entomologists having 

 observed them in the larval stage ; that they could not otherwise have 

 appeared in swarms in such coast towns as Hartlepool, where there is no 

 food for the larvae ; that the ravages have been chiefly along the east coast, 

 or near thereto ; and that on June 24th the moths appeared simultaneously 

 in large numbers at many places along the coast. These points add con- 

 siderable force to Lord Cathcart's suggestion at the recent council meeting 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society, that inquiry should be made into the 

 recent history of this moth in Holland and Belgium. Starlings, it appears, 

 have proved invaluable in devouring the grubs in the turnip fields. There 

 is, however, a possibility that the moths which have proceeded from the 

 earliest-laid eggs will themselves soon commence oviposition, and thereby 

 place the late turnips in jeopardy. Turnip-growers would be well-advised, 

 therefore, to familiarise themselves with the methods of remedy that have 

 been so extensively published, for they would then be prepared to check 

 any future attack in its incipient stages. In ' The Field ' of August 8th 

 Mr. J. T. Carrington has an article on this insect, and the nature of its 

 depredations, with illustrations of its various stages. 



Insects injurious to Farm Crops. — A series of thirty coloured diagrams 

 of insects injurious to farm crops has been prepared by Miss Ormerod for 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The diagrams are arranged in 

 five sets of half a dozen each. Common insect attacks are illustrated by 

 the Ox Warble Fly, Horse Bot Fly, Large White Butterfly, Cockchafer, 

 Turnip Fly, and Onion Fly. Insects affecting various kinds of crops com- 

 prise Surface Caterpillars, Daddy Longlegs, Plant Bugs, Hessian Fly, 

 Wireworm, and Eelworms (not insects). Insects affecting particular crops 

 include Mangold Fly, Hop Aphis, Bean Beetle, Corn Thrips, Gout Fly, 

 and Corn Sawfly. Insects attacking fruit crops embrace the American 

 Blight, Gooseberry and Currant Sawfly, Apple-blossom Weevil, and the 

 Codlin, Magpie, and Winter Moths. Insects injuriously affecting trees 

 are illustrated by the Spruce-gall Aphis, the Goat Moth, the Leopard 

 Moth, Pine Beetle, Pine Weevil, and Pine Sawfly. The diagrams are 

 excellently adapted for the walls of village school-rooms, country museums, 

 and farmers' clubs. Each series may be obtained separately through 



