594 
JOtini^AL  OP  HORTIOULWRE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  23,  1897. 
quarter  of  an  hour  each  day,  thus  leaving  three-quarters  for  my 
studies ;  and  in  the  evenings  I  could  always  manage  at  least  three 
hours  on  four  days  each  week.  With  the  addition  of  such  time  as  I 
could  devote  to  reading  on  Sundays  this  represents  the  portion  of 
each  week  which  was  regularly  devoted  to  learning  for  a  period  of 
seven  years. 
Recognising  the  prime  importance  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  my 
own  language,  I  commenced  with  Lindley  Murray’s  English  Grammar 
and  English  Exercises,  upon  which  I  worked  diligently  for  a  consider¬ 
able  time.  Then  Dr,  David  Irving’s  Elements  of  English  Composition 
and  Dr.  E,  G.  Lathom’s  History  and  Etymology  of  the  English 
Language  were  obtained  and  studied  carefully,  both  proving  most  useful 
aids,  especially  the  former.  Several  interesting  works  by  Dr.  R.  C. 
Trench  on  the  Origin  of  Words  were  obtained,  and  that  entitled  The 
Study  of  Words  was  especially  helpful.  At  this  time  also  I  procured 
an  edition  t>f  Dr.  Johnson’s  Dictionary,  and  taking  100  words  or  more 
each  day  to  write  out  and  study,  I  ultimately  worked  through  the 
whole  book.  Finding,  however,  the  necessity  for  some  acquaintance 
with  Latin  and  Greek  for  the  due  understanding  of  a  large  portion  of 
the  words  in  our  language,  I  procured  Dr.  Peithman’s  Practical  Latin 
Grammar,  and  following  that,  an  interlinear  literal  translation  of 
Virgil’s  Hilneid,  and  to  these,  with  some  other  classical  works,  I  apjslied 
myself  in  translation  and  re-translation  until  I  was  familiar  both  with 
words  and  composition.  Monteith’s  First  Greek  Course  was  next 
attacked,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  lexicon  and  a  Greek  New  Testament, 
I  made  some  progress  in  that  language  as  regards  mastering  words  and 
their  variations.  Then  came  a  study  of  French,  Hamel’s  Universal 
French  Grammar  being  the  first  book  I  had;  but  this  was  succeeded 
by  several  others  and  a  series  of  Readers,  as  I  was  determined  to 
acquire  a  knowledge  that  might  be  useful  of  a  language  to  which  I 
became  much  attached.  I  remember,  in  one  of  my  bookstall  hunts, 
picking  up  a  quaint  old  work  to  practise  on  in  translation — namely, 
Pitton  de  Tournefort’s  “Relation  d’un  Voyage  du  Levant,”  which 
contained  many  curious  illustrations  of  plants,  places,  and  people.  The 
study  of  Fi  ench  was  prolonged  much  later  in  my  life,  and  has  always 
afforded  me  a  good  deal  of  pleasure. — A  Working  Student. 
(To  be  continued.) 
HARMFUL  AND  HARMLESS  GARDEN  MOTHS— 13. 
Probably  it  is  necessary  to  introduce  the  pug  moths  by  name  to 
most  gardeners,  because  a  knowledge  of  insects  and  their  doings  can 
exist  without  any  acquaintance  which  tends  to  recognition  of  either 
genus  or  species.  The  moths  themselves  may  not  be  very  familiar, 
but  one  or  other  of  the  caterpillars  is  certain  to  make  its  presence 
manifest  in  all  gardens  containing  a  variety  of  plants  and  shrubs. 
Small  creatures  are  not  always  pacific,  the  ants,  for  instance;  but  the 
pugs  of  the  moth  tribe  have  no  pugnacity  about  them,  and  the  point 
of  the  name  would  scarcely  show  itself  to  us  when  merely  inspecting 
the  moths  alive  or  dead.  A  strong  family  likeness  prevails  amongst 
them,  which  makes  the  Eupithecia  group  very  perplexing  to  the 
naturalist  in  identifying  species,  though  the  genus  is  soon  ascertained. 
The  moths  are  on  the  wing  at  dusk,  seldom  during  the  day,  when 
they  sit  on  fences  or  trunks  of  trees,  the  wings  expanded  and  pressed 
closely  to  the  object  on  which  they  rest.  We  have  our  attention 
drawn  to  some  of  the  pugs  by  a  conspicuous  collar  or  belt,  white,  it 
may  be  red,  but  the  general  colour  is  some  shade  of  brown.  Mostly 
the  four  wings  are  ornamented  with  bars  and  lines  forming  a  sort  of 
pattern  extending  over  all  of  them,  only  the  markings  on  the  hind 
wings  are  paler  and  less  distinct. 
Arriving  at  the  caterpillars  we  find  a  clue  to  the  name,  which 
seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  short,  stumpy  aspect  of  many, 
but  they  vary  both  in  form  and  colour.  Though  of  diminutive  size, 
they  are,  as  a  family,  certainly  to  be  ranked  amongst  tree  and  plant 
disfigurers.  Of  course  some  are  not  found  in  gardens,  or  they  are 
harmless,  and  the  troublesome  ones  seldom  occur  numerously.  Leaves 
suit  the  appetite  of  only  a  few ;  most  either  revel  on  flowers,  devouring 
petals,  stamens  and  pistils,  while  partially  concealed,  or  they  pierce 
into  capsules  and  pods,  subsisting  upon  the  seeds.  Being,  then,  entirely 
hidden,  they  are  difficult  to  discover ;  sometimes  they  form  cocoons 
within  the  fruit  in  which  they  have  fed  up.  But  the  majority  of 
them  come  down  to  the  earth  when  ready  to  change,  and  it  is  curious 
to  see  how  very  skilful  they  are  in  weaving  fragments  with  silk,  so 
that  the  cocoon,  lying  on  the  surface,  looks  like  a  small  lump  of  soil. 
Hence  they  frequently  escape  enemies,  not  only  birds  and  mice,  but 
beetles  and  other  insects,  which  regard  the  chrysalis  of  a  pug  as  a 
choice  morsel.  Many  of  these  chrysalids,  small  as  they  are,  show 
bright  and  varied  colours. 
Now,  since  the  useful  is  generally  considered  to  be  more  important 
than  the  ornamental,  I  may  speak  first  of  the  Eupithecias  that,  while 
caterpillars,  reside  in  the  flowers  of  Apples,  Pears,  and  other  fruit  trees 
at  times.  Guence,  who  paid  much  attention  to  continental  species 
which  had  the  repute  of  being  mischievous,  afterwards  came  rather  to 
the  opinion  of  our  great  entomologist,  Newman,  that  these  caterpillars 
might  not  be  very  harmful  in  the  usual  way.  Emerson  somewhere 
tells  us  that  Nature  makes  fifty  poor  Melons  to  one  that  is  good,  and 
Leigh  Hunt,  in  verse,  has  dwelt  upon  her  great  prodigality  : — 
“  Too  much  grass  and  too  much  tree. 
Too  much  air  and  land  and  sea ; 
Too  much  seed  of  fruit  and  flower. 
And  fish,  an  unimagined  dower.” 
Everyone  who  knows  anything  about  vegetable  life  is  well  aware 
that  of  the  profusion  of  flowers  which  cover  our  fruit  trees  in  a  favour¬ 
able  spring,  the  greater  part  seems  to  vanish  somehow.  Even  of  the 
fruits  that  are  actually  formed,  a  percentage  has  to  drop,  the  vitality 
of  the  tree  is  not  sufficient  to  mature  them.  J’herefore  such  insects  as 
the  caterpillar  of  the  green  pug,  the  grub  of  the  Apple  weevil,  and 
other  flower-eating  species  may  even  act  a  useful  part  in  thinning  out 
the  redundancy  of  blossoms.  But  there  are  certain  birds,  which  Nature 
provides  as  a  check  upon  the  too  rapid  increase  of  such  caterpillars,  and 
our  French  cousins,  so  Guence  thought,  had  been  unwise  in  slaughter¬ 
ing  these  without  discrimination,  and  rather  cruelly  too. 
This  brings  us  to  notice,  next,  the  above  green  pug,  as  Newman 
calls  it  (Eupithecia  rectangulata);  though  in  fact  the  moth  is  of  several 
colours,  specimens  occasionally  turn  up  which  are  dark  brown  or  black. 
The  Latin  name  is  scarcely  correct,  for  a  mark  upon  the  wings  is 
indeed  angular,  but  is  not  a  right  angle.  We  have  in  these  islands 
but  one  annual  brood,  the  caterpillars  Reding  part  of  Ajiril  and  May, 
the  moth  flying  in  June.  This  caterpillar  is  decidedly  puggy,  pale 
yellowish  green,  with  a  line  down  the  back  of  a  darker  colour,  and  also 
a  few  short  hairs  ;  the  whole  body  is  transparent.  It  is  an  abundant 
species  throughout  Britain.  Rarer  and  local  is  the  pinion-spotted  pug, 
E.  consignata,  which  is  on  the  wing  earlier,  and  though  found  in 
Sussex,  chiefly  occurs  in  the  Apple  orchards  of  the  Midlands.  Sitting 
by  day  upon  the  trunks  rather  high  up  it  escapes  notice,  being  just 
the  colour  of  the  bark.  It  has  been  recommended  to  hunt  these  moths 
at  the  egg  laying,  but  catching  them  is  a  tedious  operation.  Killing 
the  caterpillars  when  young  has  its  difficulties  too ;  various  washes 
have  been  applied  for  this  purpose,  amongst  them  the  poisonous  ones 
made  from  Paris  green  and  London  purple,  to  which  I  have  always 
considered  there  were  objections.  But  there  is  no  question  about 
their  destroying  these  and  other  insects,  if  it  is  worth  while  running 
certain  risks  which  ensue. 
Very  common  in  gardens  throughout  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland  is  the  lime  speck,  E.  centaureata,  which  has,  however,  no 
connection  with  the  Lime  tree  that  I  am  aware  of.  We  see  them 
from  May  to  August,  resting  on  walls  or  fences,  especially  at  early 
morning.  Probably  these  moths  emerge  in  succession.  The  caterpillar 
is  also  noticeable  during  two  or  three  months  towards  autumn.  It  is 
slender,  a  little  wrinkled,  and  varies  much  in  colouring.  The  food  is 
flowers,  principally  of  ihe  Composite  order,  that  have  compact  heads; 
but  they  live  also  upon  some  Campanulas  and  Saxifragas.  The 
common  pug,  B.  vulgata,  merits  its  name.  Its  abundance  is  quite 
accounted  for  by  the  plentifulness  of  its  food  plants,  the  Whitethorn 
and  the  White  Willow,  upon  which  it  feeds  in  July.  The  moth  flics 
in  May.  It  is  brownish,  barred  with  black  and  white,  the  hind  wings 
pale  brown,  and  is  sometimes  seen  hovering  about  floAvers  at  dusk,  or 
reposing  during  daylight.  Gardens  show  irs  now  and  then  sp(  cimens 
of  the  brindled  pug,  E.  abbreviata,  a  spring  species,  for  it  comes  fortli 
in  March  or  April ;  small  as  it  is  (like  most  of  the  jmgs,  the  wings 
only  expand  about  an  inch),  the  ornamentation  of  them,  which  is 
expressed  by  the  English  name,  reminds  us  of  a  colouring  to  be  seen 
upon  some  cows  and  dogs,  but  which  seems  now  to  be  uncommon. 
The  caterpillar  has  been  taken  on  Oak  and  other  trees,  feeding  upon 
the  leaves ;  it  is  yellowish  red,  faintly  spotted. 
The  netted  pug,  or  Eupithecia  venosata,  has  the  wings,  which  are 
grey,  crossed  by  numerous  black  lines.  It  is  one  of  the  larger  species, 
and  occurs  about  gardens  in  May  or  June.  Later,  we  find  the  stumpy, 
grey  and  white  caterpillar,  hidden  within  the  capsules  of  Silene  and 
Lychnis  species,  devouring  the  seeds.  A  beautiful,  and  rather  smaller 
pug,  is  E.  pulchellata.  The  caterpillars  live  in  the  flowers  of  the  wild 
Foxglove  and  the  garden  varieties.  They  are  yellowish  or  green,  with 
a  few  white  hairs,  and  during  July  they  draw  threads  over  the  mouth 
of  the  corolla,  and  thus  protected,  eat  the  stamens  and  unripe  seeds, 
finishing  off  upon  the  capsule,  when  they  descend  to  form  an  earthen 
cell,  where  the  chrysalis  remains  till  May.  Some  caterpillars  of  the 
pug  tribe  feed  upon  all  sorts  of  flowers,  as,  for  example,  that  of  the 
dull-hued  grey  pug,  E.  castigata,  not  uncommon  in  August  and 
September,  a  slender  caterpillar  brown  and  tubercled,  with  a  purple 
line  on  the  back. 
From  a  peculiar  mark  upon  the  wings,  the  V.  pug,  also  B.  coronata 
has  its  familiar  name ;  there  are  two  broods  each  season ;  the  cater¬ 
pillar  is  partial  to  the  flowers  of  Clematis  and  Golden  Rod.  The  latter 
plant  has  its  special  pug,  E.  virgaureata,  which  feeds  in  September. 
The  chrysalis,  if  examined  by  a  glass,  shows  a  skull-like  device, 
surrounded  by  a  sort  of  border.  —  Entomologist. 
