INSECT AND OTHER PLANT ENEMIES. 



109 



Fig. 141.— Pot-herb Moth (Hadena oleracea). 



on the back, a pale one on either side of this, 

 and a yellow one lower down, making five in 

 all. It appears in August and September, and 

 feeds upon various vegetables, destroying the 

 foliage, and eat- 

 ing through the 

 stems of the 

 Cabbage and 

 others of the 

 tribe, severing 

 the tops from 

 the roots, The 

 pupa hibernates 

 in the soil, and the moth comes out in June. 



Remedies. — This moth may be regarded as a 

 general feeder on vegetables of most kinds, and 

 as its habits are similar to those of the Dart 

 Moths, the same remedies will apply in this 

 case. 



Red-legged Garden Weevil. — For de- 

 scription and remedies see under Leaf Enemies. 



Root Aphis (Trama troglodytes). — The wing- 

 less form of this insect is best known and most 

 troublesome. The body is greenish or yellowish 

 white, transparent, thinly hairy, and more or 

 less furnished with woolly matter behind. The 

 feet are furnished with a double claw, by which 

 it may be distinguished from all other root- 

 feeding aphides. It lives on the roots of a 

 large number of wild plants, and in gardens 

 upon those of the Jerusalem Artichoke and 

 the Auricula. The insect is liable to slight 

 but inconstant variations, and some authorities 

 consider that upon the Auricula as distinct. 



Remedies. — Should it prove detrimental at 

 any time to Jerusalem Artichokes, the tubers of 

 the latter should be lifted in autumn and stored, 

 so that the ground could be dressed with gas- 

 lime and trenched. Make a fresh plantation on 

 a different piece of ground, and wash the tubers 

 intended for this purpose in strong soap-suds 

 before planting them. When Auriculas get 

 badly infested, they may be turned out of their 

 pots, shaken clear of the soil, and the roots 

 washed clean with a strong solution of soft soap, 

 then with clean water; after they become dry, 

 repot in good, substantial compost, because 

 light material seems to favour the insect. This 

 may be done any time after the plants are out 

 of bloom, up to November. Watering the 

 plants with soap-suds occasionally might keep 

 the pest in check. 



Rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata).—- This beetle 

 varies from 7 to 10 lines in length, and is golden- 

 green above and coppery beneath. The wing- 

 cases are marked with transverse white spots. 



The grubs are fat, hairy, whitish, except at the 

 tail end, which is leaden in hue, and have 

 rusty legs, with a yellowish head, and two 

 rusty, horny spots behind it. They feed on 

 the roots of grass and various garden plants, 

 live for two or three years, and when full-grown 

 are \\ inch long. The beetle feeds on the 

 flowers of Roses, Strawberries, and other plants, 

 from May till August. 



Remedies. — Where the beetles are abundant 

 they may be caught with a bag-net during bright 

 sunshine. They are sluggish in dewy mornings, 

 and again at night, when they may be collected 

 from the flowers and leaves of their food-plants 

 and others in the vicinity, and destroyed by 

 crushing them; or they may for convenience 

 sake be temporarily dropped into a pail of water 

 if very numerous. The remedies prescribed for 



Fig. 142.— Rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata). 

 1. Beetle. 2. Caterpillar. 3. Cocoon 4. Pupa. 



destroying the grubs of the Cockchafer will also 

 apply to the grubs of the Rose-chafer. 



Summer-chafer (Rhizotrogus solstitial is). — 

 The beetle in this case is 7 to 8 lines long, 

 brown, but reddish-yellow about the shoulders, 

 and clothed with long gray hairs. The wing- 

 cases are pale -yellow, and more thinly hairy, 

 with four raised lines on each. The eggs are 

 laid in the earth, and the fleshy-white grubs are 

 curved like those of the Rose-chafer, but are 

 smaller, and feed upon the roots of grass and 

 other subjects, doing considerable damage where 

 plentiful. The beetles feed upon the leaves of 

 fruit and other trees during June and July. 



Remedies. — The habits of this insect being 

 similar in many respects to those of the Cock- 

 chafer, the same remedies apply to both, par- 

 ticularly in the larva or grub state. 



Vine Louse (Phylloxera vastatrix). — The life 

 cycle of this aphis or plant-louse is complicated, 

 and the attack upon the Vine is commenced 

 according to the particular form of the pest 

 which is first introduced upon it. The true 



