83 
Rosy Rustic and Surface Larvce. 
hour by one specimen under observation. The damage caused by 
a small number in a plot of potatoes will be seen to be very great. 
The larvae have been reported as early as May 10th in dock. Stainton 
says it feeds on the roots of various Cyperacea. The pupal stage is 
found in the ground in an earthen excavation. It is light yellowish- 
brown in colour, about three-fourths of an inch long, ending in an 
anal spike and some short stout bristles, pointing backwards, on the 
last two segments. The imago appears in August and September, a 
few stragglers even in October. It is particularly found in gardens 
and lanes and by hedgerows, also along the borders of ditches, 
marshes and fens. It flies at night and readily comes to light. The 
fore wings are pale brown with a rosy tinge, a dark broad patch 
below the upper border between the inner line and the elbowed line. 
The hind wings are wliitish-grey with a darker central line. The wing 
expanse varies from one and a quarter to one and a half inches. 
An almost identical attack is recorded from America * by two 
species, Hydrcecia nitela and 11. nebris, Guen. The former is known 
as the Potato Stalkborer and has been recorded doing injury to 
potatoes in Western Maine, the damage being due to the larvse 
boring up the stalk and causing it to wilt. It also attacks wheat 
and carnations in Ohio (Webster). It also injures tomato, spinach, 
cauliflower, dahlia, aster, lily, spiraea, salvia, thistle and other plants, 
and has been noticed in currant, apple, peach and blackberry twigs, 
and wheat and other corn. No doubt our species has a similar 
varied diet. I do not know the egg stage of this moth, nor where 
the eggs are deposited in this country. 
Pkevention. 
All we can do is to hand-pick the haulm in gardens and fields 
where it is seen to wilt and then destroy the larvse inside; by so 
doing a great deal of damage will be saved. Poultry should be 
turned on potato fields, when the crop has been lifted, to devour the 
pupae, and the men should be instructed to kill all pupae they turn 
up in digging. 
Surface Larvae attacking Celery and Potatoes. 
The Heart and Dart Moth (A. exclamationis, Linn.) larvae, 
commonly called Surface Larvae or Cutworms, were reported by 
Messrs. Carter and Co. as seriously attacking one of their clients’ 
. * “ Som T e , In ^ cfc s injurious to Vegetable Crops,” F. H. Chittenden, U.S. Dent 
Agn., Div. Ent., Bull. 33, 1902. 1 
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