SURFACE -CATERPILLARS. 
89 
included in the list; the following note, however, points to a good deal 
of damage being caused by it. 
The following communication was sent to me on October 7th by 
Mr. Cheesman, Secretary of the Natural History Society, Selby, 
Yorks, with specimens of the caterpillars accompanying, which I 
identified as the Agrotis segetum :— 
“ I send two larvae, which my gardener tells me are the cause of the 
remarkable flagging of the Celery in this district. As many as from 
one to a dozen roots in succession in the row may be observed with 
drooping and flagging leaves, and on the plant being touched it is 
found that the roots (or rather the solid rootstock) are quite eaten 
away, as if by mice. But I am told it is the work of the grubs which 
I send, they going from root to root and making considerable 
destruction. I saw the two grubs taken from the ground at the end 
root of about a dozen which had been eaten.” 
On Dec. 18th Mr. Cheesman further noted:—“ Early in October I 
sent you some lame of Agrotis segetum, which were making great havoc 
in the Celery gardens in this neighbourhood. From that time until 
now the destruction has been going on ; first the outer leaves are 
observed to flag, and in a short time the whole of the plant is eaten 
through at the collar just beneath the surface of the ground. I notice 
the plants are attacked in succession from root to root in the same 
row, and are not taken indiscriminately.” 
In a case like this it appears to me that searching for the caterpillar 
near the surface where the injury to the leaves shows its presence could 
not fail to be of service. Also, where attack was regularly and strongly 
advancing, it would be desirable to break the continuousness of the 
row. If a couple of yards or less of the Celery was dug up and the 
trench filled across towards the end nearest the plants to be protected 
with some good shovelfuls of ashes well sprinkled with paraffin or fresh 
gas-lime, such of the caterpillars as were not previously removed with 
the Celery would almost certainly be killed, or prevented advancing. 
The caterpillars noted below appeared to be of the Heart and Dart 
Moth, Agrotis exclamationis , Linn., which also is very injurious to 
Turnips, and also sometimes found in large numbers in Potatoes. 
This is somewhat flatter than the Turnip caterpillar, and not so shiny 
(see fig. on next page) ; but the specimens were not in a condition in 
which I could absolutely identify them. 
Specimens of Surface-caterpillars, which appeared to be of A. 
exclamationis, were forwarded from Hewletts, Cheltenham, with the 
mention that the Books destroyed the Turnips by pulling them up when 
searching for these grubs. Where the caterpillar has gnawed through 
the tap-root, very slight disturbance is enough to draw the bulb out of 
the ground. 
