Reports to the Board op Agriculture. 157 
the middle of October ; the majority have reached maturity by the 
end of September. 
The larva varies in colour from pale green to grey or deep green 
and even reddish-grey ; it has a pale dorsal line and semi-lozenge- 
shaped darker marks along the back from the fourth to the eleventh 
segments ; the spiracular line is somewhat paler and there are five 
dark oblique bands below ; the twelfth segment is distinctly humped ; 
the first two pairs of the dorsal markings are always deepest in hue, 
the head is green and the thoracic shield has two dark green to 
brown patches. That they vary in colour according not only to the 
plant upon which they live, but also upon the same plant according 
to the part of the plant attacked, is well known. Buckler figures 
(“ Larv. Brit. Butt. & Moths,” vol. iv., pi. lxvi.) four larvae from Pteris 
ciquilina ; the green ones occurred on the green parts of the leaves, 
the brown on the brown parts. 
When mature the larvae reach about an inch and a half in length, 
fall to the ground and change into a brown pupa in the earth beneath 
where they have been feeding and remain in that condition until the 
following summer. 
Pkevention and Bemedies. 
In gardens hand-picking is advisable; it is a sure means of 
lessening attack. Where they occur in large numbers on gooseberry 
and fruit bushes it would be best to spray with some arsenical wash. 
It is said that if they are shaken off the plants, and then the ground 
drenched with cold water, especially if the weather is hot, violent 
purging is brought on, and the caterpillars are reduced to mere 
skins (Ormerod). 
Gardens that have been attacked by Dot-Moth larvae should 
be lightly forked over so as to expose the pupae and so place them 
where they can be devoured by birds. It would be worth while to 
let ducks run over the infested ground, or if an orchard, fowls ; both 
ducks and fowls devour the pupae readily. 
A Plague of Earwigs. 
A lady wrote to the Board concerning a plague of Earwigs in a 
garden. 
The only way to get rid of Earwigs appears to be by trapping 
the insects, and the destruction of rubbish, old bark on trees, etc., 
during the winter. 
The best way of trapping them is to place some baskets filled 
