220 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



she flies. Whichever method is adopted it is usual to find several cater- 

 pillars hatched out close together. They may perhaps be hatched on the 

 surface of the ground and then crawl down the holes left by the decaying 

 foliage of the daffodil. I have, at all events, found the caterpillars in 

 July in the scales of bulbs which had been dug from the ground in the 

 middle of June. They were then, of course, very small, but had begun to 

 feed on the bulb which was in process of being dried off. 



From July till the following May the caterpillars remain under 

 ground feeding on various roots. I have read that they live on the roots 

 of the dock.* I only wish they would confine themselves to so innocent 

 and even laudable an amusement. Unfortunately any fleshy root seems 

 to serve their purpose. Beside the daffodil and the dock, I have found 

 them attacking the roots of the paeony, the tulip, the colchicum, the 

 lily, the pentstemon, Chelone barbata, and on one occasion apparently 

 the young roots of the hawthorn. Of the paeony they seem to be 

 specially fond. 



They appear to be liable to be attacked in return by a curious fungus 

 which will kill them, and they may then be found dead, slightly orange in 

 colour, hard, and rather brittle. 



When they feed on the daffodil they seem, as a rule, to prefer to eat 

 the roots and the bulb rather than the shoots. Sometimes the caterpillars 

 will eat the roots right away, and also bore into the bulb, in which case 

 the plant will either die altogether or push up a few miserable leaves ; 

 and is practically ruined. In other cases the roots may be scarcely 

 touched and the bulb only attacked ; the plant will then throw a feeble 

 growth of leaves, seldom a flower. If a fork be inserted under the bulb 

 noticed to be in this condition, and the whole thing dug up, the 

 caterpillar may sometimes be dug up with the bulb, its head buried 

 deep jn the base of the bulb. This is, however, not always the case, and 

 perhaps on account of the depth at which they generally work, it is not 

 easy to find the marauder, even when one feels fairly confident that an 

 attack is in progress, and though the bulb when lifted may give positive 

 evidence of having been subject to attack. 



But the caterpillars will also sometimes eat the shoots as well as the 

 roots and bulbs, and in such cases of course no leaves will appear above 

 ground, and when the bulbs are lifted they will be found to present the 

 appearance of concentric circles of bulb scales, both the top and base 

 of the bulb having been eaten right away. 



It is, however, very unusual to find this, and I have noticed it only 

 on two occasions. In both cases about ten or a dozen bulbs enclosed 

 in a small partition on the rockery were attacked, and I suppose the 

 caterpillars were numerous and unable to make their way to fresh bulbs 

 after they had consumed the parts of the plants they liked best. In 

 one case the daffodils so completely destroyed consisted of a group of 

 ' Vesuvius,' and in the other of ' Queen of Spain.' 



In all cases that have come under my notice bulbs attacked by the 

 swift moth caterpillar, when subsequently lifted and examined, present 

 quite a different appearance from bulbs which have been attacked by the 



* Morris states generally that they feed on the roots of plants. 



