SURFACE CATERPILLARS. 
77 
On August 12tli specimens were forwarded from a farm near 
Cleobury Mortimer, Salop, with information that they were destroying 
a field of Swedes, “ at least two at every root ” ; and also, on August 
13tli, Mr. James Craig reported, from Weston-under-Lizard, near 
Shifnal, that grubs were eating the Swede Turnips just by the ground : 
attack was noted as very bad in that locality, great patches of the 
fields being bare. One or two of the grubs were to be found at the 
root of each Turnip showing signs of distress. (The specimens 
accompanying were of surface caterpillars, much resembling the com¬ 
mon kind of Turnip Moth caterpillars, but unusually dark in colour). 
On August 19th specimens were forwarded through the hands of a 
correspondent in Lincolnshire, with the remark “that as they were 
out of reach of the Rooks (even if they fed upon them), and any 
application to the land would probably be worse than useless, there 
remained only the rather expensive process of pulling up the withering 
Turnip, gathering the grubs, and so preventing their migrating to 
healthy plants, serving out the Turnips pulled up to the young cattle 
upon their hard bare pastures.”—Communicated by Mr. R. Lowe, 
Sleaford. 
On August 25th, Mr. W. Clark, Rostellan Castle, Co. Cork, 
forwarded Turnip Moth caterpillars, and also a Turnip, as eaten by 
them, from the field of a neighbour, with the following observations:— 
“ The field is a sharp stony land on old red sandstone, and has 
been bad with the grub ever since it was ploughed in the winter. The 
crows never lay out of it, and must have destroyed thousands of the 
grub, as one was shot and found to contain about a handful of the 
grubs. Now (August 25th) you have only to turn over a clod, and 
you can pick up two or three. They cut the Turnip across about an 
inch below ground, and, if not completely bitten through, the plant 
turns purple and dies off.” 
On Sept. 1st more of “ the brutes ” were forwarded, with the note 
that the state of the field was getting worse and a great part of the 
crop was already gone, and the following observation, which is of 
interest relatively to attacks of the caterpillar recurring in successive 
years on the same ground :— 
“ The Oat crop on the field last year was miserable, scarcely the 
seed being got from it. When ploughed great numbers of caterpillars 
were turned up and eagerly devoured by crows, who would make good 
scavengers just now, but are getting too much corn to think of cater¬ 
pillars. Some Turnips have about twenty caterpillars round them.” 
Turnip Moth caterpillars were forwarded, on the 31st of August, 
by Mr. H. W. Green, from West Lavington, Devizes, with information 
that, during the dry weather then prevailing, they were committing 
great ravages in that part of the country, both on Swedes and Turnips. 
