48 



were syringed afterwards with warm water (merely to clear off the dirt left by the dipping), 

 and soon resumed a healthy appearance, and were thus saved from an unusually severe 

 attack ; the Orioceris, when brought under treatment, being present on almost all the 

 plants and stems, and noticeable by thousands in the larval stage, as well as in the egg." 

 Another writer states : " I stopped what was becoming a destructive attack by syringing 

 the plants with warm water, just bearable to the hand ; this sent off the larva?, or loosened 

 them so as to fall to a shake ; and throwing soot liberally through the damp shoots to the 

 ground destroyed the fallen grubs. This treatment, repeated once or twice in the course 

 of the season, completely saved the plants, and the soot gave a luxuriant and healthy 

 growth." 



11. Insect Migrations. 



The following account of an extraordinary migration of insects is so interesting that 

 I need make no excuse for transcribing it here : " The swarm appears to have been 

 composed, at most of the successive points noted, of the moth Plusia gamma, and of the 

 painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui. It appears to have started from the north-west 

 of Africa, and travelled in a north-east direction, was observed at Algiers about April 

 15th to 20th, 1879 ; it reached Valencia, and was spread over Spain, and also present 

 in the Balearic Isles from April 26th to May 3rd, and crossed the Eastern Pyrenees on 

 May 26th and 27th. It next appeared in the south-east of France, Switzerland and 

 Northern Italy ; and on the morning of June 5th, thousands of living specimens were 

 found on the snow at the Hospice of St. G-othard. It was then distributed over Germany 

 and Austria at dates of appearance noted as being from June 7th to 16th. Another column 

 crossed the Mediterranean to Sicily, and spread northwards over Italy in June. The 

 more westerly end of the migratory swarm reached Strasburg from June 3rd to 9th ; Paris 

 and its environs were apparently not reached till June 15th. The appearance on the 

 south coast of England was noticed on June 10th; and the moths were subsequently 

 observable throughout the three kingdoms. Plusia gamma was unusually abundant 

 near Norwich on June 12th and 13th ; and it was also noticed on the 13th in Essex. 

 Subsequently it occurred in enormous quantities at many localities, the numbers, however, 

 diminishing (as far as appears from the observations sent in) as the points of observation 

 became more northerly. At Exeter, an observer states that he never saw anything to be 

 compared with its numbers ; towards the end of September the larvae literally swarmed on 

 every garden plant, defoliating the plants, as well as riddling the leaves. Another, writ- 

 ing from Chichester, mentions that serious injury was caused by the larvae of Plusia gamma 

 to the field peas, whole fields being stripped of their leaves, and the growth of the pods 

 consequently checked. On August 5th great numbers of the larvae were collected ; two 

 days later they spun up, the moths developing on the 14th, the pupal state thus lasting 

 only a week or ten days. The moth was also noticed as unusually abundant in Bucking- 

 hamshire, Hampshire, Kent and in various other counties. " Before the appearance of 

 the moth and caterpillar — it is noted — the sugar-beet crops in Saxony were in excellent 

 condition, and would in ordinary circumstances have yielded a harvest of from nine to ten 

 tons per acre ; the actual yield where the caterpillars had been was only three tons." 



A great many other insects are, of course, referred to in these interesting Reports, but 

 the foregoing have been selected for notice here, inasmuch as they are more or less familiar 

 to us on this side of the Atlantic. It would be an immense help to the effective study of 

 practical entomology, and consequently of great value to the agriculturists and fruit grow- 

 ers of this country, if some similar plan could be carried out here. There would 

 require to be one or more willing and competent observers in each county of the Province, 

 who should note down particulars respecting a certain number of noxious insects, and 

 send in their reports to some central office at the close of the season, making mention 

 especially of any unusual depredations that might have occurred in their neighbourhood. 

 By some such system as this we should get a large quantity of information that could 

 easily be digested and put in proper shape for annual publication. 



