THE SWIFT MOTH CATERPILLAR AND DAFFODILS. 219 



THE SWIFT MOTH CATERPILLAR AND DAFFODILS. 



By H. R. Dablington, F.R.H.S. 



So secret and so close 

 As is the bud, bit with an envious worm, 

 Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air 

 Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. 

 Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow 

 We would as willingly give cure as know. 



Romeo and Juliet. 



My object in calling attention to the attacks of the swift moth caterpillar 

 (Hepialus lupulinus) on daffodils is twofold. I have found it extremely 

 destructive in my own garden, and hope that a discussion of the matter 

 may bring some useful suggestion of a means of effectively dealing with 

 the difficulty ; and I have reason to think that some who have suffered 

 in the same way may welcome a discussion of the subject and take some 

 interest in my observations, while it may assist others whose daffodils 

 have failed from the same cause, though they have been unable to deter- 

 mine the reason of the failure. 



I have no doubt that the destruction caused by this caterpillar is much 

 more widespread than is generally known.* On two occasions, in 

 different parts of the country where I have been assured, " Oh, we 

 cannot grow daffodils here," I have found the grub in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the ground considered to be hopeless for the 

 purpose. This may of course be a coincidence, but it is possible that if 

 the cause of failure be as I suspect, by taking proper precautions the 

 daffodil might be grown in those places where it has hitherto been found 

 to fail. 



The swift moth is unfortunately an extremely common moth. At the 

 same time the books on British moths tell us very little about its habits 

 and, so far as I am aware, nothing as to its partiality for the daffodil. 



The life-history of the swift moth is somewhat as follows : — The 

 moths appear towards the end of May and continue through June. The 

 female is decidedly larger than the male. The colour in both cases is a 

 dusky brown, but the wings are rather prettily marked with a pattern of 

 a lighter colour. The male has a tuft of rufous-tinted down at the back 

 of the thorax. The moths may often be seen flitting about the garden in 

 the early dusk, with a peculiar zigzag flight, to which no doubt they owe 

 their name. These are probably males, the females lying below at the roots 

 of the grass. The females begin to lay their eggs early in June. I have 

 often tried to observe the moth in flight, but down to the present I am 

 unable to determine whether the female moth lays her eggs deliberately 

 on particular plants or in particular places, or whether at haphazard as 



* When I first called attention to the pest (Garden, April 27, 1907), Mr. Blake of 

 Guildford wrote to that journal (May 18) stating that out of 160,000 bulbs grown by 

 him something like one third had been affected by it. 



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