Page 3 Advertisements Column 1

Manawatu Herald, 15 June 1895, Page 3

In July, 1884, 1 read a short paper on this moth before the Wellington Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Society, and subsequently, November, 1888, published the following in the ITawke'a Bay Herald :— " This insect is found from August to May, but is most plentiful in the summer. It came under my notice in the Wellington District about nine years ago [i.e., 1870] , appearing

first in a garden in the small farms

at Pahautanui, whence it rapidly * spread to all the cultivations in the settlement* and thence over the whole of the Wellington Province. It is however* very erratic, appearing in great numbers in a particular locality, then suddenly departing, to appear again perhaps toward the end of the season ; or it may remain all the ie&son,

It wag introduced from Europe, but is now a widely-distributed speciei, being found in North and South America, Australia, and throughout New Zealand; indeed, probably wherever cabbages or turnips are tW.vated.

The damage is, of course, done by tht larvae, wfiich feed on the leaves of all crucifers, but especially of cabbages, cauliflowers, and turnips. The larv» are shaped something like a small spindle, are green, or sometimes yellowish-green colour, with a brown or greyish-brown head. They measure, when well fed, from $in. to Jin. in length, and ahoufc 1 16 th in. in diameter. They will be found in great numbers on the underside of the leaf, sometimes working beneath i delicate network. They are tortoious feeders, but easily disturbed, when alarmed can quickly lower themselves by a delicate thread, and thus reaoh the ground, or remain suspended until the danger is passed. Though so Bmall, these grubs, by their numbers, do enormous damage to culinary crops. I have seen in more than one marketgarden the whole of the stock of cab* bages and cauliflowers quite destroyed, and have counted as many as 170 grubs on a single leaf.

When about to change from the chrysalis stage the caterpillar spins a spindle-shaped cocoon, either on the ground or beneath a network on the underside of the leaf. From this cocoon the moth emerges in about fifteen days.

The complete insect is very variable in colour and markings, but the following may be taken as a fairly good general description : Brown, mottled with white, antenn&e white,

when at rest they point straight for-

ward ; crown of head and disc of -{thorax white. Superior wings long