825 
Annual Report for 1893 of the Zoologist. 
be done beyond forcing the crop on by suitable manures, and 
encouraging, as far as possible, the birds which prey upon the 
caterpillars. 
Mr. W. J. Birch-Reynardson writes : “ I am inclined to think 
that an extra dose of manure is about the best remedy, but in a 
year of drought like this there was no rain to convey the manure to 
the plants, and this remedy was of little use. . . . The rooks were 
my best friends, and, I believe, saved what roots I have. It was a 
curious sight to see the rooks feeding in a regular line across the 
field, the rear rank flying over the heads of the front rank every few 
minutes to get fair play. The caterpillars did most damage to 
mangel, and no damage to kale, and they were more injurious 
on very stiff land at the bottom of a bank than on poorer land at the 
top.” 
It would be interesting to know whether kale is always declined 
by this pest, as in that case it would be a useful crop for ground 
known to be infested. Plovers were noticed to be greedily devouring 
these caterpillars upon a Shropshire farm. 
With regard to hand-picking, reports, as usual, are at variance. 
Mr. A. J. Sparke writes : “Some of my neighbours had their men 
picking them for days, but they only have half a crop. And Mr. 
Birch-Reynardson considers that his crop never would have paid for 
the labour of digging up the caterpillars.” On the other hand, Mr. 
Joseph Ividner writes : — “The means I adopted was to carefully search 
the ground around the plants each time they were hoed, and kill 
every caterpillar found. It was a tedious process, but the only one 
that appeared likely to be successful.” 
Homopterous Pests. 
Complaints have been received of the ravages of Cabbage Aphis, 
American Blight, and various homopterous insects attacking 
conifers, Chermes abietis, Cherm.es laricis, and Lachnus pini. 
With regard to the green-fly tribe, I have nothing to add to the 
exhaustive treatment of previous reports, except that, among new 
insecticides, that manufactured by the Stott Company seems likely 
to prove useful. Of the Larch Chermes Mr. H. J. Elwes writes : 
“ It seems to me that none of the measures proposed can be 
adopted economically, except on a very small scale, in ornamental 
plantations or by nurserymen. My own opinion is that the only 
way in which this disease can be checked is by the most careful 
selection of the seed from the Tyrol and, if possible, North Russia, 
where the larch are far healthier than in England.” 
One correspondent alluded to the interesting case of the eradica- 
tion of the orange scale ( Icerya purchasi) in America by the intro- 
duction of its special enemy, the Vedalia cardincilis, from 
Australia, and suggested a similar remedy in this country for the 
Homoptera which infest fir trees. That case, however, was quite 
exceptional. The Icerya, when introduced, had none of its 
