OF INJURIOUS INSECTS. 
5 
that he never saw anything to he compared with its numbers : towards 
the end of September the larvfe literally swarmed on every garden 
plant, defoliating the plants, as well as riddling the leaves. 
Mr. Anderson, writing from Chichester, mentions that serious injury 
was caused by the larvae of the Plusia Gamma to the field Peas, whole 
fields being stripped of their leaves, and the growth of the pods 
consequently checked. On August 5th great numbers of the larvae 
were collected; two days later they spun up, the moths developing on 
the 14th, the pupal state thus only lasting a week or ten days. Mr. 
Anderson also mentions the large flocks of the Common Song Thrush, 
which congregated in vast numbers, and did good service in clearing 
the larvae. At Addington, Bucks, Mr. Matlieson observes the moth as 
much more abundant than usual; and at Islewortli it was noticeable 
in large numbers (though not in the great swarms mentioned in other 
localities) about August 10th. The moth was also noticed as exceedingly 
abundant in the New Forest, Hants, at the end of August and beginning 
of September; and very numerous likewise at Ashford, Kent. At 
Maldon, Essex, Mr. Fitch mentions the occurrence of the moth in the 
greatest profusion about the middle of August, the larvae also being 
very numerous, hut destroyed in immense numbers by the persistent 
downpour of rain before they had time to effect serious damage. At 
Tranmere, near Birkenhead, Cheshire, Mr. Willoughby Gardner gives 
the appearance of the Plusia Gamma as greater than he had seen it in 
previous years, hut not as in such swarms as in many parts of that 
county in the present season; and at Huddersfield, in Yorkshire, a 
little farther north, Mr. Mosley mentions it as having betn more 
numerous than usual, hut not so much so as it appears to have been 
in the South. At Maxwelltown, Dumfries, Mr. Robert Service observes 
“ we had no unusual abundance of Plusia Gamma , such as was observed 
elsewhere.” With regard to the destructive powers of the larvae of this 
moth, where they make good their hold, it may he allowable to give a 
note (although it is not an English observation) from the statements 
(quoted in the ‘Times’ newspaper of November 12tli, p. 6, col. 1) 
made at the previous meeting of the Society for the Promotion of 
Sugar Beet Industry, at Halle. “Before the appearance of the moth 
and caterpillar the Sugar Beet crops in Saxony were in excellent 
condition, and would in ordinary circumstances have yielded a harvest 
of from nine to ten tons per acre ; the actual yield where the caterpillars 
had been was only three tons.” 
2. Otiorhynchus (sp. sulcatus and picipes). The Otiorhynchus 
picipes appears to have been present in unusual numbers during the 
