186 Annual Report for 1905 of the Zoologist. 
advocated by the late Miss Ormerod against this pest fairly 
satisfactory. This consists in successive dressings of warm 
water and soot or a mixture of soot and lime. The water 
dislodges most of the grubs, and it also causes the soot to 
adhere to the feathery fronds of the plant, making them 
unpalatable to the insect. 
The injury to the shoots just appearing is most difficult to 
deal with, and it is a wise plan to take advantage of the insects’ 
preference for the foliage by allowing some of the shoots to 
grow up at the outset. The beetles are attracted by these and 
lay their eggs upon them to the neglect of the younger heads. 
When eggs and grubs are seen upon them they are of course 
cut down and destroyed. 
In most cases these measures will be sufficient, but in beds 
where the beetle is an annual nuisance, recourse might be had 
to an arsenic spray after the cutting of asparagus shoots has 
come to an end. The object of such a spray is to kill the 
grub by poisoning the food on which it lives. The constitution 
of such sprays, and the jirecautions to be observed in their use, 
were given in the article on “ Orchard and Bush Fruit Pests,” 
in Yol. 63 of the Journal, 1902, page 116. 
An Asparagus Caterpillar (Hadenci pisi). 
In one case of beetle-infested asparagus, another pest was 
present in large numbers in the shape of a caterpillar about an 
inch and a quarter long, which was feeding greedily on the 
foliage. This was identified as the grub of a Noctua moth, 
known as Hadena pisi , which is now, I believe, first recorded 
as injuring asparagus in this country, though various Con- 
tinental entomologists mention that it feeds upon this among 
several other plants. Newman calls it the “broom moth,” 
though he remarks that, as far as his observation goes, its 
favourite food-plant is the bracken-fern. It is evidently very 
catholic in its tastes. 
The caterpillar is a striking creature, and easily recognised 
by its four bright yellow longitudinal lines, two along the 
back and one along either side. The ground colour is a 
mottled green when the caterpillar is young, but after the last 
moult it is often a rich chocolate-brown, faintly marked with 
lighter streaks. 
The moth of which it is the grub or larva is much like 
many of the other night-flying moths, having the front wings 
reddish-brown without any very distinct pattern, and the 
hind wings somewhat greyer in tint ; it measures about an 
inch and a half across the extended wings. 
If the caterpillar should be noticed in asparagus beds it 
would be as well to look for it on any wild plants near at 
