Wm. Swainson, Esq. F.R.S., F.L.S., in- 
f'oniis us, through the medium of the Gardener’s 
Magazine, for Jan. 1828, page 295, of one kind 
(the Anamalia Horticula) being very destructive 
in 1826 in his garden. He says, “ the perfect 
insect appears in the greatest abundance during 
the end of May and the whole of June, swarming 
upon the Rose bushes, and in a few hours destroy- 
ing, or disfiguring, every flower that had opened 
since the preceding day. They appear to confine 
their ravages almost entirely to the Rose. Num- 
bers were picked from the bushes every day, and 
the gardener received much assistance in his 
occupation from Sparrows, and other semi-insec- 
tivorous Birds. No insects are more easily cap- 
tured than these, and if a few active boys were 
to be employed, at the proper season, in picking 
them of the bushes, the thousands, nay millions, 
of the larvae, which would othei'U'ise appear dur- 
ing the next three years, would be effectually 
prevented.” To prevent the insects from de- 
positing their eggs in the earth, he goes on to 
remark, “ I should recommend that as soon as 
the perfect insect appeared, a top dressing, as I 
believe it is called, of either lime or cinders should 
be laid on every part of the surface of the infested 
ground. This dressing should be finely sifted, 
and be compact, that the female could not readily 
insinuate herself from the surface, for the purpose 
of depositing her eggs beneath. It should also 
be nearly a span deep, by which means those few 
