86 



THE GAEDENEE'S ASSISTANT. 



sulphur while wet with dew, or they may first 

 be syringed with water and dusted. While the 

 fruits are still quite small, the bushes may be 

 treated with white hellebore, as prescribed for 



Fig. 106.— Gooseberry and Currant Sawfly (Xematus Ribesii). 

 1. Shoot of Gooseberry. 2. Eggs. 3. Larva. 4. Pupa. 5. Perfect insect. 



the Garden Pebble Moth, except that glue 

 should not be mixed with the decoction of 

 powder. Pyrethrum powder is considered harm- 

 less except to insect life, and the Californian 

 sort named buhach or the Persian insect powder 

 might be employed to dust the bushes instead 

 of white hellebore. During winter, when the 

 ground is being dug, the soil to the depth of 3 or 

 4 inches may be removed from beneath the bushes 

 and placed in the area between the rows, cover 

 the roots with fresh soil taken from the middle ; 

 and use a good sprinkling of gas-lime to mix 

 with the old soil in digging, so as to destroy 

 the caterpillars lying dormant in their cocoons. 



Green Fly (Bophalosiphon Dianthi). — The 

 wingless, viviparous females of this species are 

 usually pale-green, but vary from that to rusty 

 or brownish-yellow, or a reddish hue. The name 

 "Green Fly" might be applied to many other 

 species, but that under notice is extremely com- 

 mon, and is known to infest 60 to 70 species of 

 plants, including many valuable garden subjects, 

 such as Carnations, Fuchsias, Peaches, Potatoes, 

 Hyacinths, Tulips, and other bulbs. Other green 

 aphides of a harmful character are Siphonophora 

 Pelargonii, infesting show Pelargoniums, and 

 S. Pisi, the large aphis of garden Peas and 

 Sweet Peas. Aphis Cratregaria, or an allied 

 species, infests Gooseberry and Eed -currant 

 bushes. 



lit medics. — Under glass, fumigation in some 

 of the numerous ways at present in vogue may 

 be employed to destroy Green Fly, and should 

 be effected before the plants come into bloom, 

 and after the latter is past, if necessary. Out- 

 of-doors affected plants may be syringed with 

 a solution of soft soap and water, as for the 



Currant Aphis above detailed. The tops of the 

 young shoots of Gooseberry and Eed Currant 

 bushes infested should be cut off and burnt before 

 the syringing is given. 



Lackey Moth (Clisiocampa neustria). — The 

 perfect moth measures somewhat under, to a 

 little over, 1J inch across the wings, which 

 vary from pale-yellowish to sandy-red, with two 

 brown lines running obliquely across them. The 

 caterpillars appear in May and June, sometimes 

 doing great damage to orchard and forest trees. 

 They are variously coloured with white, orange, 

 black and blue and silvery-blue lines, and clothed 

 with brown and golden-brown hairs. 



Remedies. — Keep a sharp look-out for the 

 earliest appearance of the caterpillars, which 

 live in communities covered by a web. In the 

 case of dwarf trees, a man or boy could hold a 

 pail, containing some water or soap-suds, beneath 

 the webs, while another pulls down the latter 

 with their load of caterpillars. A cloth may be 

 spread beneath standard or orchard trees while 

 the webs are brought down with a pole, or, better 

 still, by the cutting of the shoots infested, with 

 a long- handled tree-pruner. Collect cocoons 

 found upon the trees during July and August; 



Fig. 107.— Lackey Moth (Bombyx {Clisiocampa) neustria), 

 1. Eggs. 2 Caterpillar. 3. Moth. 



destroy eggs upon the shoots in winter; and 

 keep the ground about the trees clear of all 

 rubbish. 



Lunar- spotted Pinion Moth (Cosmi&py- 

 ralina). — The fore-wings of this moth measure 

 1J inch to 1J inch in expanse, and are reddish- 

 brown, with a central patch and two lines of a 

 blackish hue. The hind- wings are gray. The 

 caterpillars are smooth, pale-green, with three 

 paler lines on the back, and a yellowish line 

 edged with black on either side. They appear 

 in April and May, and sometimes do damage to 

 Plum, Pear, and Apple-trees, The perfect moth 

 appears in August, but is local in distribution. 



