Pea  Midye ; Pea  Moth. 
275 
as  possible  and  to  remove  and  burn  the  plants  at  once,  for  the 
pods  which  remain  are  pretty  sure  to  be  maggoty,  and  their 
immediate  destruction  will  remove  any  future  danger  from 
them.  But  large  numbers  of  maggots  will  probably  have 
spread  themselves  already  over  the  ground  near  the  plants, 
and  these  will  emerge  as  flies  in  a few  weeks’  time  unless 
precautionary  measures  are  taken,  and  it  is  therefore  advisalde 
to  dress  the  gi-ound  with  gas  lime  or  some  other  caustic 
material  as  soon  as  the  plants  are  removed.  If  these  ineasures 
are  promptly  adopted  there  will  be  few,  if  any,  of  the  flies 
left  to  renew  the  attack  the  following  year.  In  the  nature  of 
things  there  is  no  remedy  for  a crop  already  attacked,  as  the 
pest  is  securely  hidden  inside  the  pods,  but  anything  calcu- 
lated to  stimulate  the  growth  of  the  plants  would  be  sure  to 
diminish  the  damage  done.  The  worst  effects  during  the  past 
season  were  on  pea  plants  weakened  by  the  continued  dry 
weather. 
The  Pea  Moth  {Grapholitha  pisana). 
Cases  of  considerable  injury  by  this  pest  were  reported 
during  the  past  summer,  and  sometimes  it  was  found  in 
company  with  the  pea  midge.  The  insect  in  this  case  is  a 
small  grey  moth,  about  half  an  inch  across  the  extended  wings. 
It  also  lays  eggs  on  the  pea  blossom,  and  these  hatch  out  into 
little  yellowish  caterpillars,  with  black  heads  and  brown  “neck 
shields,”  and  with  the  arrangement  of  legs  usual  in  caterpillai-s 
that  are  not  “ loopers  ” — six  true  legs  in  front,  and  five  pairs 
of  suckers  farther  back.  They  are  much  larger  than  the 
midge  maggots,  attaining  more  than  a quarter  of  an  inch  in 
length  when  full  grown.  They  feed  exclusively  on  the 
individual  peas,  boring  into  their  substance  till  they  are 
entirely  hollowed  out  and  surrounded  with  the  excrement  of 
the  cater])illar,  and  in  this  way  they  do  more  harm  than  the 
previously  mentioned  pest  when  present  in  large  numbers. 
They  also  leave  the  pods  and  pupate  in  the  ground,  and  those 
that  mature  early  emerge  as  moths  the  same  summer  and 
attack  the  later  varieties  of  peas.  The  chrysalids  from  the 
later  broods  remain  over  till  the  following  spring. 
The  measures  which  are  recommended  for  the  pea  midge 
would  probably  be  beneficial  also  in  the  case  of  this  pest, 
which  is  common  and  widely  spread,  though  only  occasionally 
very  destructive. 
BLIGHT  INSECTS  OR  PLANT  LICE. 
Aphids. 
From  time  to  time  mention  has  been  made  in  these  Reports 
of  one  or  other  of  the  numerous  blight  insects  which  infest 
our  crops.  It  may  be  useful  to  give  some  account  of  the 
T 2 
