June  i,  1897.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
821 
a story  to  Colombo  of  a strange  placard  that  our 
old  friend  had  stuck  up  in  the  lobby  of  his 
office  which  had  brought  down  a remonstrance 
and  protest  from  a London  policeman  on  the 
beat.  By  this  time,  Mr.  Tyndall  had  become 
the  “ Kaconteur”  of  the  Ceylon  Observer,  and 
many  a passage  in  his  planting,  hunting  and 
roving  days  has  he,  from  time  to  time,  described 
in  our  columns.  He  also  forwarded  to  us  the 
printed  “ placard”  which  had  been  the  subject  of 
remark  among  his  friends  and  accompanied  it 
vith  the  following 
'*  The  enclosed  may  be  of  use  to  you,  so  I lose 
no  time  in  sending  it  out.  No  Policeman  ever  appeared 
here,  except  to  ask  for  a Christmas  Box.  1 am  on 
the  best  of  terms  with  the  Force.  You  will  find 
this  admirable  policy  yourself.— Yours  sincerely, 
John  Tyndall.” 
The  placard  itself  ran  as  follows  : — 
NOTICE. 
All  Beggars  and  Pedlars  enter= 
ing  this  Office  will  be  shot  dead. 
Mr.  Tyndall  continued  to  attend  to  his  London 
business  up  to  a few  months  ago  when  he  was  laid 
aside  by  severe  illness,  from  which,  again,  recovery 
was  deemed  very  unlikely,  if  not  impossible  ; but 
in  a letter  from  him  dated  6bh  May  in  the  same 
clear  neat  hand,  the  writer  was  able  to  announce 
convalescence— after  passing  tlirough  .severe  in- 
fluenza, pleurisy,  &c  —though  he  naively  added  : 
— “ I naturally  find  that  I don’t  pick  up  my 
“strength  as  I did  when  I was  forty  years  younger. 
“However,  with  the  constitution  of  a Wilson’s 
“Bungalow  buffalo,  and  a heart  as  young  as  a 
“two-year  old,  1 hope  to  pull  along  a bit  yet.  I 
“am  just  going  down  to  my  brother-in-law’s,  at 
“Castle  Fraser,  Aberdeenshire,  and  with  bracing 
“country  air  and  the  wine  of  the  country,  1 hope 
“ to  be  ‘ o’er  all  the  ills  of  life,  victorious  ’ — imme- 
“diately  if  not  quicker” — and  he  winds  up  by 
hoping,  very  .shortly,  to  send  a contribution  from 
“ Raconteur'^  for  the  Observer. 
Well  past  the  allotted  “ three-score- and -ten,” 
it  will  be  judged  that  Mr.  John  Tyndall  is  a 
wonderful  specimen  of  the  early  Pioneer  Planter  and 
Sportsman  in  Ceylon.  That  his  vigour  and  hearty 
good  spirits  may  long  continue  will  be  the  wisli  of 
his  many  friends  in  Lanka  as  of  all  readers  of  the 
Tropical  Agricultunst  and  Ceylon  Observer. 
Agricultural  Pests : 
WITH  METHODS  OF  PREVENTION. 
BY  MISS  E.  A.  ORMEROD, 
(Latr  Consulting  Entomologist  to  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
England). 
VI. 
ORCHARD  PESTS. 
Attack  of  apple  sawfly  may  be  taken  as  an  ex- 
ample of  how  easy  it  is,  without  observation,  for 
an  infestation  which  bears  much  resemblance  to  some 
other  kind  to  escape  requisite  notice,  i.e.,  such  notice 
as  causes  proper  measures  to  be  taken,  instead  of 
trouble  and  money  being  spent  to  no  purpose  on 
applications  suited  to  another  attack  of  which  the 
chrysalis  stage  is  passed  in  a different  locality. 
Apple  sawfly  presence  has  long  been  known  in  this 
country,  but  so  far  as  I am  aware  has  been  little 
observed,  and  it  was  not  until  the  summer  of  1891 
that  I had  an  opportunity  of  studying  the  charac- 
teristics. In  many  respects  the  attack  of  those  cater- 
pillars to  the  apple  fruit  much  resembles  that  of 
the  too  well-known  codlin  moth  catterpillars.  It 
may,  however,  be  certainly  distinguished  by  the  sawfly 
caterpillar  having  a greater  number  of  sucker-feet 
beneath  the  body,  that  is,  six  pairs  which,  with  the 
pair  at  the  end  of  the  tail,  and  the  three  pairs 
of  claw-feet,  make  in  all  twenty.  There  is  the 
further  characteristic  of  the  caterpillars  possessing 
a most  unpleasant  bug-like  smell.  Thus  they  may 
be  distinguished  from  the  codlin  moth  caterpillar, 
the  larva  of  the  Carpocapsa  pomonella. 
With  regard  to  methods  of  prevention.  In  the 
case  of  either  of  the  attacks  it  is  desirable  to  gather 
up  and  destroy  prematurely  fallen  apples,  which 
from  their  bored  and  injured  state  show  that  they 
have  fallen  from  caterpillar  presence  within,  and 
may,  therefore,  very  likely  be  then  infested.  But 
beyond  this,  the  chief  means  of  prevention  are  on 
quite  different  principles.  The  codlin  moth  cater- 
pillar (to  a great  extent),  after  leaving  the  little 
apples,  creeps  up  the  trees,  and  changes  to  the 
chrysalis  state  in  crevices  of  the  bark.  The  sawfly 
caterpillar,  on  the  contray,  goes  down  into  the  ground 
to  form  its  cocoons.  It  is,  therefore,  needless  to  point 
out  that  any  amount  of  scraping,  washing,  and  clean- 
ing the  bark  is  merely  money  thrown  away,  if  all  the 
while  the  enemies  against  whom  these  operations 
are  directed  are  lying  from  two  to  six  inches  under 
the  surface  of  the  neighbouring  ground. 
The  turnip  sawfly  ( Athalia  spinanim ) sometimes 
causes  overwhelming  mischief;  but  this  is  not  a 
regular  yearly  attack,  by  reason  of  rotation  of  crops, 
and  because  in  regular  course  of  autumn  cultivation 
the  cocoons  are  thrown  up,  or  buiied  beneath  their 
natural  resting-places.  The  progress  of  the  injury 
is  very  rapid.  The  bright  orange  sawflies  lay  their 
eggs  in  slits  sawn  in  the  leaves.  One  female  will 
lay  over  two  hundred  eggs.  The  eggs  hatch  in  about 
five  days;  the  time  varies  with  the  state  of  the 
weather;  if  warm  and  favourable,  they  will  hatch 
sooner.  The  twenty  two-footed  grubs  are  greenish 
at  first,  then  black,  then  slaty,  and  are  full-orown 
in  about  three  weeks,  during  which  time  they  eat 
voraciously.  They  go  down  into  the  ground  to  change, 
and  the  new  brood  of  sawflies  in  summer  comes  up' 
ready  to  lay  eggs  and  start  a new  attack  in  about 
three  weeks.  With  this  attack  we  can,  as  with  most 
others,  do  something  by  ensuring  vigorous  plant 
growth;  but  all  methods  that  have  been  found  useful 
to  check  attack  will  be  found  to  be  based  on  the 
special  habits  of  the  caterpillar.  During  its  three 
weeks’  life  it  changes  its  skin  about  once  a week 
and  to  manage  this  it  must  hold  fas’  by  means  of 
the  pair  of  sucker-feet  at  the  end  of  its  tail,  to  • 
leaf  or  stem,  so  as  to  have  something  to  drag 
against  in  the  -truggle  to  get  free  of  its  cast  coat 
If  it  c -n-’ot  do  t'lis  it  dies.  Also  it  has  only  the 
