December  9,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
549 
The  shadows  are  here  and  over  us,  hut  they  are  only  such ;  and 
we  feel  that  behind  them  is  the  light  which  shall  shine  yet  again. 
The  clouds  are  leaden,  but  there  are  streaks  and  lines,  which  show 
that  they  will  break  up  and  pass  away,  giving  us  once  more  the 
garden’s  joy-giving  beauty. — S.  Arnott. 
HARMFUL  AND  HARMLESS  GARDEN  MOTHS— 12. 
During  the  spring  season,  when  there  is  so  much  to  occupy  the 
time  and  attention  of  gardeners,  many  plants  are  liable  to  the 
insidious  attacks  of  the  early  brood  ol  caterpillars,  which  sometimes 
escape  notice  until  the  mischief  done  can  only  be  partially  remedied 
by  their  removal.  Thus,  slim  looper  caterpillars  often  haunt  our 
Roses  while  they  are  leafing ;  small,  but  hungry,  and,  extending 
themselves  along  the  twigs,  are  overlooked  b^^  the  gardener  when 
they  are  young,  their  colour  l)eing  green ;  fortunately  the  eyes  of 
some  birds  are  sharp.  As  they  grow,  occasionally  the  colours 
become  darker ;  such  is  the  fact  with  the  caterpillar  of  the  moth 
that  is  rather  oddly  called  the  shoulder  stripe,  or  Anticlea  badiata, 
which  comes  out  during  INlarch  to  deposit  eggs  on  the  Dog  Rose, 
also  on  the  garden  species,  specially  the  Briar  kinds.  Green  at  first, 
this  caterpillar  afterwards  has  the  head  orange  and  black,  the  sides 
being  shaded  with  purjde,  the  back  having  numerous  dots  of  white. 
It  is  frequent  in  the  Plnglish  counties,  but  not  abundant  enough  to 
be  mischievous.  Also  in  the  spring  we  see  about  gardens  a  less 
common  and  prettier  species  of  the  genus,  A.  derivata,  or  the 
“  streamer  ;  ”  the  barred  wings  have  a  delicate  gloss ;  it  flies  rather 
briskly  by  day.  The  green  and  red  caterpillar  eats  Rose  leaves 
during  May,  occasionally  it  is  found  on  Honeysuckle. 
The  Dutch  farmers  have  for  centuries  been  famous  for  their 
Cabbages ;  at  a  time  when  plants  of  this  tribe  were  not  much  grown 
in  Britain,  they  were  imported  from  Holland  for  the  tables  of  the 
nobility.  Perhaps  the  moth  known  as  the  flame  carpet  (Coremia 
propugnata)  is  more  common  in  that  country  than  with  us  ;  anyhow, 
the  Dutch  were  the  first  to  discover  that  the  caterpillar  fed  on  the 
Cabbage.  It  is  of  moderate  size  and  greyish,  marked  with  pink, 
occurring  upon  the  food  plant  in  spring,  al«o  in  summer,  since  there 
are  two  broods  each  year.  This  is  found  throughout  our  islands,  though 
not  an  abundant  species.  The  moth,  which  is  pale  grey  banded  with 
chocolate,  having  a  few  white  lines,  flies  about  at  dusk  in  May  and 
August,  but  is  seldom  seen,  or  at  least  recognised.  It  is  not  a  Cabbage 
foe  needing  to  be  hunted  down  by  us. 
Scarcely  a  garden  throughout  England  fails  to  furnish  us  with 
specimens  of  the  yellow  shell  moth  in  June  or  July,  this  being  fond 
of  lurking  amongst  evergreens  and  thick  shrubs,  from  which  it  often 
flutters  on  the  near  approach  of  a  footstep,  only  to  seek  shelter  again 
speedily.  This  moth,  called  by  science  Camptogramma  bilineata,  has 
not  only  a  couple,  but  many  lines  upon  the  yellow  surface.  Most  of 
these  lines  are  brown ;  three,  however,  are  white  on  the  upper,  and 
two  on  the  lower  wings.  This  is  a  species  which,  when  once  observed, 
we  are  pretty  sure  to  remember  again  if  we  come  across  it.  The 
caterpillar  feeds  about  fields  or  garden  lawns  upon  a  variety  of 
grasses  ;  it  is  green  and  yellow  ;  during  the  day  it  hides  amongst  the 
roots,  or  under  stones  and  clods.  We  may  tuin  it  up  in  April  or 
May,  but  it  is  not  deemed  a  caterpillar  injurious  to  the  grass  crops. 
I  do  not  profess  to  know  why  an  allied,  but  less  species,  received  its 
Latin  name  of  C.  fluviata,  but  the  English  one  of  the  “gem”  is  intel¬ 
ligible.  Upon  each  fore  wing  is  a  white  spot,  enclosed  within  a  dark 
ring,  and  when  the  moth  is  seen  at  rest  where  there  is  but  little  or 
dim  light,  this  spot  shines  out  like  a  gem,  contrasting  with  the  black 
surrounding.  The  wings  are  chiefly  greyish-brown  in  the  male,  brick 
red  in  the  female  moth.  It  is  a  species  which,  from  some  unexplained 
cause,  is  commoner  in  the  London  suburbs  than  elsewhere,  and  is  on 
the  wing  during  July.  The  caterpillar  feeds  on  groundsel  in  the 
autumn,  and  hides  under  the  lower  leaves ;  it  is  found  both  brown  and 
green. 
A  pretty  moth,  which  has  rather  distinctive  markings,  and  occurs 
about  gardens  and  hedgerows  during  the  summer,  is  the  small  waved 
umber,  Phibalapteryx  vitalbata.  Its  wings  are  long  for  the  size  of 
the  body,  pale  brown,  with  wavy  lines  of  darker  brown,  two  small 
black  spots  on  the  fore  wings  ;  the  body  is  banded.  In  the  autumn  we 
may  notice  its  caterpillar  upon  Clematis,  or  now  and  then  upon 
Honesty.  It  has  a  fancy  when  at  rest  for  making  itself  a  sort  of 
ladder  between  two  leaves  or  stalks,  by  holding  on  across  with  the 
front  pair  and  the  last  pair  of  legs.  It  is  much  wrinkled  and  warted, 
of  some  tint  of  grey,  on  which  are  blackish  spots  and  stripes. 
About  equal  in  size,  lighter  coloured,  and  indistinctly  marked  is  the 
moth  called  the  “  fern,”  for  no  reason  that  I  know  of,  since  the  food 
plant  is  Clematis.  It  is  also  P.  tersata.  This  species  is  chiefly  seen 
in  the  East  and  South  of  England.  The  caterpillars,  which  are  brown, 
grey,  and  black,  feed  at  the  same  time  as  the  preceding,  but  dnly  at 
night.  If  touched  they  drop,  coiling  up  their  slender  bodies  into  a 
sort  of  Catherine’s  wheel.  Allied  to  these  is  the  larger  and  handsome 
moth,  the  tissue  (Scotosia  dubitata),  which  visits  gardens  in 
September  to  regale  upon  the  honey  their  flowers  afford,  the  females 
hybernating.  The  wings  are  brown  but  suffused  with  a  rosy  gloss, 
varied  with  white  and  grey.  It  is  reared  upon  the  common  Buckthorn 
of  our  woods  and  hedges. 
Then  we  get  in  gardens  sundry  representatives  of  another  group 
of  these  geometer  moths,  the  Cidarias,  most  of  which  are,  in  entomo¬ 
logical  books,  called  carpets,  though  really  their  markings  are  of  a 
varied  character.  Several  species  make  tliemselves  conspicuous  at  the 
end  of  autumn  by  flying  about  the  Ivy  bloom,  that  of  the  Laurustinus, 
the  winter  Jes-^amine,  and  late  garden  flowers.  The  red-green  carpet, 
C.  siterata,  is  barred  with  red,  the  general  colour  being  greenish  grey ; 
it  hybernates  amongst  Ivy,  or  hides  in  sheds  and  outhouses  ;  its 
caterpillar  is  seldom  noticed,  it  has  been  taken  on  Apple,  Lime,  and 
Oak.  Very  similar  in  appearance  and  habit  is  the  autumn  green 
carpet,  C.  miata,  a  more  abundant  species,  which  the  gardener  may 
chance  to  disturb  in  its  winter  slumbers  while  he  is  pruning  or  tidying 
up.  It  is  a  harmless  species,  the  food  of  the  caterpillar  being  princi¬ 
pally  Birch  and  Elder  leaves. 
Only  in  the  North  of  England  do  we  find  about  gardens  the  netted 
carpet,  0.  reticulata,  a  moth  with  quite  a  style  of  its  own ;  for  upon 
the  deep  brown  of  the  fore  wings  are  arranged  numerous  white  lines, 
which  give  a  netted  or  tesselated  appearance  to  the  sjiecies.  Its  season 
of  flight  is  July  ;  the  caterpillar  is  seldom  discovered;  it  is  one  of  the 
few  which  subsist  upon  the  Impatiens  Noli-me-tangere.  Common 
throughout  the  British  Islands  is  the  small  phoenix,  C.  silaceata, 
remarkably  variable  in  colour  and  markings ;  its  caterpillar  is 
occasionally  found  on  some  species  of  Epilobium,  specially  E.  angusti- 
folium,  in  shrubberies;  it  is  slender,  pale  green,  dotted  with  brown. 
If  touched  it  shows  displeasure  by  shaking  the  head  backwards  and 
forwards  until  the  annoyer  departs.  Larger,  and  also  variable,  but 
having  fewer  markings,  which  are  black  and  white  on  the  brown 
ground  colour,  is  the  phoenix,  which  greets  us  on  July  evenings, 
though  in  neither  of  the  kindred  species  is  there  anything  to  suggest 
resemblance  to  the  bird  of  fancy. 
The  Latin  name  of  another  moth,  Cidaria  ribesiaria,  tells  a  fact  in 
its  history,  the  food  of  the  caterpillar  being  Currant  or  Gooseberry 
leaves.  It  is  not  a  scarce  spec  es,  occurring  in  many  counties  of 
England  and  Ireland,  but  has  not  yet  been  reported  as  numerous 
enough  to  be  hurtful  to  the  bushes.  About  the  middle  of  June  the 
caterpillars  are  full  fed,  being  dark  green,  having  along  the  back  eight 
lozenge-shaped  black  marks,  which  enclose  white  dots.  The  chrysalis 
is  enclosed  in  a  slight  cocoon,  the  moth  emerging  during  July,  when 
eggs  are  deposited  on  the  bark,  remaining  unhatched  till  the  spring. 
Upon  the  Red  and  Black  Currant,  again,  feeds  the  caterpillar  of  the 
Spinach  moth,  oddly  so  called,  the  C.  dotata  of  Linnaeus.  A  sluggish 
caterpillar  of  yellowish  green,  long  and, thin,  yet  a  hearty  eater,  as  some 
spare  people  are.  Mr.  Doubleday  and  others  have  noticed  its  effects 
upon  the  foliage  of  the  bushes  occasionally ;  it  lies  quiet,  at  full  length, 
upon  the  twigs  during  the  day,  feeding  after  dark  in  April  and  May. 
The  moth  nearly  resembles  others  belonging  to  the  family.  To  add 
one  more  species,  the  treble-bar  (Anaitis  plagiata)  is  sometimes  seen 
about  gardens  in  May  and  August ;  the  caterpillar  lives  upon  some 
species  of  St.  John’s  Wort  or  Hypericum.  A  peculiarity  of  this  insect 
is  that  both  moth  and  caterpillar  are  adorned  Avith  wavy  lines. — 
Entomologist. 
CHRISTMAS  ROSES. 
The  majority  of  persons  who  possess  handsome  specimens  of  these 
plants  will  be  looking  forward  to  the  annual  display  of  their  welcome 
flowers,  the  better  forms  of  which  are  so  justly  prized  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  The  thought  of  attempting  to  transplant  the  roots  at  this  time 
would  undoubtedly  appear  somewhat  riliculous,  as  no  doubt  it  would  be 
to  some  extent  were  it  recommended  generally  ;  but  it  is  not,  nor  is  there 
any  occasion  to  disturb  these  specimens  so  long  as  the  possessor  is  certain 
that  they  have  abundance  of  suitable  soil  for  their  requirements,  and  the 
plants  themselves  by  the  luxuriance  of  their  foliage  and  the  abundant 
supply  of  their  flowers  afford  ample  proof  that  they  are  in  good 
condition. 
What  I  have  to  say  just  now  about  these  very  desirable  plants  is  more 
especially  directed  to  those  who  may  be  thinking  of  making  new  planta¬ 
tions,  and  my  advice  is  to  plant  at  once  and  not  delay  till  the  arrival  of 
spring,  a  season  that  suits  many  of  our  best  hardy  plants  admirably,  but 
is  altogether  wrong  for  the  “  niger  ”  section  of  this  family,  and  particularly 
does  this  apply  to  all  those  localities  where  the  soil  is  light  or  sandy,  or, 
what  is  equally  bad,  a  soil  which  for  summer  is  overdrained. 
Though  nat  particular  as  to  soil  itself,  these  Hellebores  are  most 
happy  in  leather  heavy  loamy  land,  the  depth  of  which  cannot  be  too 
great,  and  finally  a  cool  moist  position  where  a  free  circulation  of  air  is 
continually  going  on.  Some  few  years  since  the  whole  of  my  Hellebores 
were  planted  on  one  of  the  open  quarters,  and  though  cared  for  as  well  as 
circumstances  would  permit,  their  appearance  indicated  the  position  was 
unsuitable,  but  better  quarters  were  obtained  for  them,  and  they  now 
grow  in  luxuriance  between  hedges  of  Oval-leaved  X’rivet,  well  repaying 
by  their  rapid  increase, 
