List of Pests that Damage Vegetables | Zoology

Here is a list of ten pests that damage vegetables.

1. Red Pumpkin Beetle (Aulacophora Foveicollis):

Exclusively infest cucurbetaceous plants. Both the adult and the grub damage the crop but main damage is done by the adult. The adult have piercing and sucking type of mouth parts and make hole in the tender part of the plants including buds, flowers and small fruits also. They make a hole where secondary infection starts.

The adult in severe case of infestation damage the bud and flower which fell down and hence no fruit appear. The grub small and tender live in soil and cut the root, tender shoot and germinating seeds also. Perforated old leaves of pumpkin are remarkable symptom of the infestation.

The adult is brilliantly coloured in orange or red or saffron coloured. They measure about 6-7 mm. in length, 3-4 mm. in width. The underside of the animal is black. A pair of antenna is present which constantly moves. The adult is active during mild winter season but hibernates in winter.

The eggs are of orange colour, laid in-group of singly or in rows upto 250-300. They hatch in 6-7 days and the grub comes out-migrates into the soil. The grub is cream coloured with a prominent black spot on the last segment and a walking apparatus. The larval period lasts for 13 – 14 days. It feeds upon fallen leaves and rotten vegetation’s.

The pupae emerge after 7-15 days. These pupal are found in water proof chambers in the soil about 1 cm. in depth.

Control:

Beetles can be destroyed by using chemicals during the germination period of the plant; a soil treatment is also beneficial. 5% BHC or DDT or 1% Lindane dust proves beneficial for control.

2. Potato Tuber Moth (Gnorimoschema Opercullela):

It is found in the hot and moist region of India. U.P. is the most affected area regarding this pest. It causes serious damage to the potato crop and damage upto 50 – 70% of the crop if not taken proper care. It attacks on tomato, brinjal and tobacco also. Under unfavourable conditions it passes its time on other solanaceous weeds and dhatura.

The damage is done by caterpillars which feed on the potato but in case of severe infection leaves and stems are also damaged.

The moth is small, slender and dark brown which measure about 1.25 cm. across the wings. Fore wings are yellowish brown with dark bands whereas the hind wings have fringed margin.

It rarely attacks the crop in the field but the female lays eggs on the tender shoots, cracks and on the eyes of the potato. The crop go unnoticed into the receptacles and stored there. The eggs are white or black dot like tiny bodies with incubation period of 3-4 days.

The larval are small white caterpillars which bore into the flesh and feed voraciously grow in 7-14 days and become pink coloured about 1 cm. long and pupate outside the tuber for about 6-7 days.

The moth is a short lived 4-6 days adult which lays about 90 – 100 eggs. Life cycle is completed in 17- 25 days and 2-3 generation in a year.

Control:

Well ventilated godown should be preferred for storage of the crop. The sand and other allied should be changed after every 15 days to clean the pupae. Potato should be treated with 5% DDT dust before storage.

Fumigation with CS₂ is effective for killing the larval and other stages also.

3. Brinjal Fruit Borer (Leucinodes Orbonalis):

The moth attacks the fruits of Brinjal and the apical bud and tender shoot also. The distribution of the insect is done by the adult which fly a short distance and lay eggs. The moths are small 20 mm. across the wing white with pale brown spots on the body.

The wings axe white with large brown patches and small hairs on the margin. Male are smaller and the females are larger with a life span of 2-5 The eggs are laid singly in group of 2-3 on the tender and hairy part of the plant particularly the buds, calyx and shoot, about 100 – 120 eggs are laid which hatch in 3-6 days.

Larvae are the main destructive stages which complete the 5 moults in period of 9-28 days. The full grown larva is 1-2 cm. black head. They pupate in the fallen leaves, out-side the fruit, and manure present in the field. The puparium is tough silken cocoon and period is 6-17 days. Total life cycle is completed in 20-40 days and 5-6 overlapping generation are reported in a year.

Control:

The damaged plants and fruits should be collected and burnt to avoid the spreading. The field can be sprayed with 5% BHC or 1% Endosulphan, 0.1% Malathion, .02% Endosulphan, 0.1% Diaginon or .04% Endrin can kill the prey.

4. Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris Brassicae):

Widely distributed in India it is a pest of cabbage, cauliflower and other cruciferous plants. The caterpillars damage the leaves of the cabbage and cauliflower and destroy the crop.

The butterflies are big, good flies, white coloured with two black spots on its fore wing. Female is about 6-7 cm. across the wings but the males are smaller and feeble.

The female lays 150-164 yellow, conical ornamented eggs in bunch of 50-90 eggs per cluster, on the leaves and buds. The eggs hatch in 4-5 days.

The larvae and small white or dirty coloured which turn bluish green with grey shades when fully grown. Pupal period is of 14 days and measure about 2-3 cm. with black head.

Larvae pupate in silken girdle at some distance from the food plant and the total life cycle is completed in 28-30 days with 4-5 generation in a year.

The pest can be controlled with 5% DDT, BHC dust or spray of .5% Malathion or .02% Diazinon kills the larvae.

5. Aphides or Plant-Lice:

Aphids are the ectoparants on plants sucking their juice. Many varieties of aphids are found upon the leaves of the potatoes during the spring and summer months, indeed so long as the foliage remains green and succulent. Their first appearance depends upon the mildness of the weather, for when it becomes cold they do not generate, or at any rate very slowly, so that the species disappear; but if a plant be taken and protected in a green-house or sitting room their economy is not interrupted even in the winter, as one sees by the pelargoniums being covered with Aphides when they are neglected.

Graham has detected the Aphis persicoe upon the potato leaves in his vinery; in the beginning of May, Mr. Denham found A. granarius, or an allied species, in some abundance on the potato leave.

No one acquainted with cultivation will attempt to deny that the plantlice have the power to destroy a crop – for instance, the house and broad beans were a light crop, and entirely failed from the attacks of Aphis Faboe in many districts in 1847; but in that very year the potatoes in gardens, where the Aphides were abundant, proved sound crops; whilst in 1848, where no Aphides could be found, the tubers were worse than at any former period.

That Aphides will puncture the potato leaves there can be no doubt, and so incline them to wither; but there is no proof of their poisoning the sap and causing the root. Indeed, it is only when plants are smothered with them, as we see beans, turnips, hops, and roses occasionally are, that their presence causes any real mischief, and then it simply arises from the local exhaustion produced by the abstraction of the sap from the leaves or young shoots and of course when the circulation is impaired and the cellular tissue is deprived of its nourishment and dried up, the foliage becomes spotted and withers.

Aphis Rapoe:

Having received so many different species from various correspondents with the name of A. vastator, it is difficult to decide which is intended for the authentic one; but some which were stated to by typical examples, and identical with those figured and described by Mr. Smee.

A. Persicae:

Morren, is very like the preceding species, but it is rather larger with much longer and slenderer ducts. In the autumn of 1834 prodigious swarms of this species were carried by a hurricane over many parts of Belgium.

Aphis Humuli:

The Winged specimens are exceedingly like A. rapoe in size and colour.

A Faboe, Seopoli:

To render the history of this species more complete, the female and pupa are represented the natural sizes.

Schizoneura Lanigera:

Schizoneura lanigera, belongs to a group which has been separated from the genus Aphis in consequence of the different neuration of the wings &c. The winged specimens are only accidental inhabitants of the potato, and may frequently be observed on almost every plant in the garden.

At the same time the natural enemies of the Aphis were not inactive- the lady-birds (Coccinella 7 punctata and C. dispar) were laying their eggs, which soon hatched, and the little black larvae made great havoc, as well as their parents, amongst the helpless communities- the beautiful two-winged flies (Seoeva balteata and Cheilosia toeniata) were also depositing their eggs beneath the potato leaves, where they soon hatched and the maggots commenced feeding on their Aphis prey.

These eggs are white, oval, and beautifully granulated, whilst those of the lady-birds are smooth, and of an orange or buff colour. There are likewise some minute bugs and their larvae, which are exceedingly serviceable in destroying the Aphides, and there seems to be scarcely a plant or tree where they may not be found the perfect insects inhabiting the flowers, and the immature ones running about in search of the Aphides, which they transfix with their sharp rostrum.

H. Nemorum:

H. nemorum, Linn-it is only 1½ line long the natural size. It is black and shining, the head is trigonate, narrowed before, with a three- jointed rostrum bent under the breast; the two globose eyes are prominent, and the two minute ocelli at the base of the crown are remote the two horns are half as long as the body, straight, four- jointed, and black; first joint short, second the longest, bright ochreous, the tip black; third and fourth of equal length, the former ochreous at the base, the latter conical at the apex- thorax triangular, truncated before with two transverse channels- scutel triangular, acute, and not small- elytra elliptical, lying flat on the back, and extending beyond the abdomen, pale ochreous, with a spot at the suture, a bar or spot on the disk of each, and the oblique margin all fuscous.

The terminal membrane is white, with a fuscous spot on the disk and a larger one at the tip: beneath are two transparent but indecent wings, with a smoky spot at their tips- the six legs are bright ochreous and slender, the base and tips of the shanks, as well as the feet, are pitchy, and there is a ring of the same colour near the apex of the hinder thighs. It varies so much in the markings, that the different varieties have been described under the following five names by Fabricius, viz., sylvestris, nemoralis, fasciatus, austriacus, and pratensis. The hide themselves when disturbed, often running into chinks in the bark of fruit and other trees, where probably the eggs are deposited; likewise under loose bark as well as in moss, where they hibernate, to come forth again in the spring.

The larva is very minute at first, yet it resembles the parent in having a rostrum, horns, and six legs, but it is narrower, of a blood of chestnut colour, more ochreous when fasting, and it has no wings- the head is furnished with a very acute rostrum, longer than the head, the horns and legs are ochreous, the terminal joint of the former being the stoutest and of a blood colour. The thorax and head nearly in profile.

The pupa is as long and broader than the perfect insect, which it greatly resembles in form, and it is equally active and useful- it is of a deep shining chestnut colour; it has no little eyes on the head; on each side of the back lies a flat rounded lobe, ochreous at the tip, and they contain the incipient elytra and wings the body is broad, convex, and orbicular the horns and legs are ochreous, the first and last joints of the former of a chestnut colour.

H. Minuta:

H. minuta, Linn, is a smaller species, being little more than 1 line long: the natural size. It is shining black- the horns are brown, ochreous at the base: hinder part of the thorax punctured- elytra ochreous and punctured, the apex fuscous; membrane smoky on the disk- beneath them are two transparent wings- legs ochreous, tips of feet dusky. The larva and pupa are smaller than those of the former species, but they are equally beneficial, in preying upon the Aphides.

S. Obsolete:

It is bright ochreous, producing a few long black bristles: the eyes have two purple lines when alive, but are brown when dead: the apical half of the third joint of the horn is black as well as the pubescent seta: the abdomen is rather small: wings ample, yellowish, and iridescent, but transparent; nervures ochreous- balancers with a large triangular club- legs whitish-ochre; at the apex of the hinder shanks, where the spur is inserted, is a brown spot; the feet are dusky, the hinder thickened, especially the basal joint; expanse of wings 5¼ lines. The larvae most of the Sapromyzidae are said to live in putrid substances, as mushrooms, &c., but Mr. Haliday has bred S. rorida from flowers.

6. Thrips:

Various species of Thrips injure different crops of grain and fruit, as well as green-house plants, by abstracting the fluids which ought to sustain them, and so far the potato Thrips acts upon the leaves, but that has nothing to do with the rot in the tubers. When they congregate in countless myriads, as they often do in melon and cucumber frames, their presence in soon indicated by ochreous spots upon the cuticle, which and in the destruction of the leaf, arising from their puncturing it with their short beaks, and extracting the sap in the same manner as the Aphides; but their number upon the potatoes was never sufficient to effect any important change on the constitution of the plants.

These minute creatures run with activity over the surface of the substances they feed upon, and no doubt the winged individuals can fly. The larva is shutde-shaped and ochreous; the head is small and oval, with a minute black eye on each side, and a short beak beneath the two horns are twice as long as the head, slightly pubescent and four-jointed; first two joints small, third egg-shaped, fourth nearly as long as the others united, ovate at the base and attenuated to the apex- trunk very long and broad, composed of three segments, the first trigonate with rounded angles, the two following forming broad bands; the abdomen is as wide as the thorax, composed of nine segments, conical and hairy at the apex- six short legs- thighs very short; shanks dilated; feet indistinct or wanting.

The pupae are also ochreous, but before they change to the perfect state they become much darker; and being such atoms they are not easily detected under the leaves when at rest, lying close to the midrib or nervures, but they run about lively enough when disturbed.

They belong to the Order Hemiptera, the Family Thripsidae, and the Genus Thrips.

The species on the potato was described by Linnaeus a century back, under the name of:

T. Minutissima:

T. minutissima natural size-it is scarcely 1/3 line long; pale brown or dirty ochreous: the horns are short and six-iointed- the eyes are intensely black: the trunk is concave, and the sides parallel: the abdomen is oval, pointed, piceous, and shining- the four wings, lying parallel on the back, are narrow, dirty white, and ciliated: six short legs, stoutish and ochreous; shanks and feet simple.

S. Solani:

It is not bigger than a small grain of sand, and either entirely of a deep ochreous colour with black eyes, or as black as soot with ochreous horns the head is large, like a great mask, and attached by a slender neck- the eyes are placed on each side of the crown- the horns are more than half the length of the body, slender, elbowed, and for-jointed? The trunk and body are united forming a large globose mass, with a forked tail doubled under the latter for leaping- the six legs are rather short, and apparently triarticulate- to show the leaping apparatus in another species.

These minute animals are nourished by eating the parenchyma of the green leaves, but some species feed on fungi. In Nova Scotia the crops of turnips and cabbages are principally destroyed, whilst in the seed-leaf, by some Smynthurus, the size of a pin’s head, and nearly globular. It hops with great agility by means of its forked tail, and may be found on every square inch of all old cultivated ground, but it is not plentiful on new land. As these “ground-fleas” will not remain on damp ground, they may be expelled by sprinkling salt over the land after the seed is sown and well rolled down, or a thin layer of sea-weed spread over the drills is a perfect security against them.

An allied genus called Podura has very lately been accused of being the origin of the potato disease. W.P. says – “First, in an early stage of its existence, it lives on decayed vegetable matter, which it collects by burrowing into the earth; secondly, it occurs in numbers sufficient to cover nearly the whole surface of the earth; thirdly, it collects, as a means of existence, a substance which is poisonous to vegetables. It has power to infuse this into living plants by burrowing into the parenchyma. The poison is circulated through the system, vital action becomes suspended, mildew immediately follows, and in less than three days some of the plants attacked are dead vegetable matter, food for the offspring of the newly-discovered podurd”. Dr. Lindley very justly adds, “Insects are not the cause of the potato disease”.

7. Cimicidae, or Plant-Bugs:

It is somewhat remarkable that whilst portions of these creatures, as we have already shown, are destined to live upon Aphides, and so preserve our vegetables, others have an opposite taste, and like the plant-lice, pierce the cuticle to feed upon the juices, causing similarly injury by parching up the leaves, or covering them with blotches.

The appearance of various species of plant-bugs, their larvae and pupae, upon the potato crops, excited the attention of agriculturists, some of whom were at once disposed to attribute the prevalent disease to these insects. The truth is, when an unknown malady first visits us, it is natural that everyone interested should endeavor to find out the origin, consequently every imaginary influence is taxed as the cause by the speculative mind- and from the little attention that is paid by the farmer and gardener to the economy of insects, they are led to believe that certain tribes of animals are the culprits, because they chance to be abundant upon the plants, and they never observed them before; but if their attention had been directed to the subject earlier, they would in all probability have detected the same insects upon the same plants every year, in greater of less abundance.

They all belong to the order Hemiptera, the Family Corisidae, and the Genus lygus or Phytocoris.

L. Umbellatarum:

L. umbellatarum is a more oval species, with slenderer horns and legs- it is pale green of ochreous, shining, punctured, and pubescent- head smooth, inclining to red; horns rosy, tip of second joint with the two following brown- thorax rosy behind, and coarsely punctured, smooth before, with a transverse waved channel- scutel white, black at the base, sometimes with two longitudinal black or rosy lines next the thorax- body shining black above, margined with ochre- elytra elongate oval, clouded with red, the costa deeply notched at the base of the stigma, which is tipped with brown, the oblique and oval nervure scarlet; membrane with a smoky border and a dot within the and rather short, excepting the hinder pair; thighs with a reddish or brown ring near the apex, two rings in the hinder, the shanks spiny, all tipped with brown; feet pitchy. This pretty species varies much, and some examples are very rosy. Two other species, Phytocoris pabulinus of Linnaeus, and P viridulus, Hahn, are recorded as inhabiting and injuring the potato crops.

8. Potato Frog-Files:

Equally or more abundant than the plant-bugs were these suctorial insects, which were hopping and flying over the potato grounds from the end August until the crops were lifted in the end of September. Everyone has observed upon hollyhocks and other flowers little patches of frothy matter called “cuckoo spittle-” they are occasioned by a tender little animal, which by sucking the plant buries itself in this froth, which protects it from heat and other inimical effects, until it is full grown, when it changes to a pupa, and from this emerges the perfect insect, called by Linnaeus Cicada spumaria.

The potato frog- flies are of the same family; only the larvae do secrete froth, but move about like their parents. There are two species inhabiting the potato haulm: they belong to the Order Homoptera, the family Tettigonidae, and the Genus Eupteryx. One is closely allied to Fabricius’s T. flavescens, which is larger.

L. Bipunctatus:

L. bipunctatus, is a more robust insect. It is green, more or less ochreous when dead: the horns are stoutish, ferruginous, and dusky at their extremity, with a pitchy spot beneath the first joint towards the base; the rostrum, in repose, extends to the hinder coxae, and is pitchy at the tip. In some varieties there are two black dots on the disk of the trunk, and it is ochreous before; back of abdomen shining black, with the lateral margins pale- elytra with depressed black hairs, and generally with indistinct stripes or splashes of brick-red; membrane smoky- wings ample, smoky, with darker nervures- legs stoutish, especially the hinder; thighs ochreous, rusty at their extremities, tips of tibiae and feet pitchy.

L. Soloni:

It is green, shining, punctured, and clothed with soft depressed pale hairs: head small, smooth, transverse-oval, and ochreous; face triangular, with a long four-jointed rostrum bent under the breast in repose the eyes are small, prominent, lateral, oval, and black; the two horns are ochreous, brown beyond the middle, long, very slender, angulated, and four-jointed, basal joint the stoutest, longer than the head, second twice as long, third longer, fourth shorter than the first Thorax ochreous, convex, triangular, truncated before, twice as broad as the head at the base; scutel triangular abdomen entirely green.

The female with a channel beneath, inclosing the horny oviduct: elytra very long, elliptical, as broad as the thorax, resting horizontally on the back; stigma green, like the elytra; membrane transparent, iridescent, the nervures bright green; wings ample, transparent six long, slender ochreous legs, hinder very long; feet ochreous, all pitchy at their tips, and terminated by two claws; hinder thighs the stoutest, the shanks very long, slender and spiny length nearly 3 lines. It is possible this species may be a variety only of the Cimex pabulinus of Linnaeus, or the Phytocorisprasinus of Fallen.

As soon as these insects leave the egg they can run about being furnished with legs, horns, and a rostrum like the parents, but they are deprived of the organs of flight. As they grow they attain two lobes on the back, which in close the future elytra and wings, and then they are called pupae: the natural length’ and the natural size.

In every stage of their existence they feed in the same manner; but the perfect insects which emerge from the matured pupae, can fly well, are exceedingly active, leaping by short flights and tumbling about in the sunshine, so that it is difficult to capture these fragile creatures, especially without mutilating them.

L. Contaminates:

L. contaminatus, is very similar in size and from to the foregoing species. It is ochreous, the base of the thorax and the elytra inclining more or less to green and the membrane is margined with a smoky colour; but it varies considerably, some having a dark spot at the base of the stigma, forming a bar across when the elytra are closed; the suture is also brown, as well as the nervures of the wings, and a patch on the back of the abdomen. It is 3 lines longs: the wings expand 5’/2 lines.

9. Eupteryx Picta:

It is very similar in form to E. solani, but it is larger and beautifully spotted: it is of a clear yellow colour, with two oval black spots on the crown of the head, and one on each side of the face, two larger ones on the trunk with two dots before, and two black spots at the base of the scutel the abdomen is black, the margins of the segments yellow, the superior wings are clouded with brown, leaving the base, the tip, two large spots on the costa, and two on the suture, yellow, with smaller pale spots on the disk; inferior wings iridescent and transparent, the nervures brown: legs entirely of a sulphur colour. The pupa of this species is of a uniform buff colour the eyes and tips of the feet alone being dark.

Altica:

In company with the foregoing insects was one of the Alticoe, or leaping Chrysomeloe. They first appeared about the middle of June, and they continued feeding until the leaves withered. During the whole of August, 1846, they were in multitudes on the bitter-sweet (Solanum dulcamara), a plant belonging to the same genus as the potato; the leaves of which they completely riddled.

They are also abundant on grass till late in the autumn, but nothing is known of the larvae, or where the eggs are deposited. This beetle is comprised in the same group as the turnip-files (Altica Nemorum), but owing to the different form of the horns and feet, it has been separated from them. It belongs to the Order Coleoptera, the Family Chrysomelidae, the Genus Macrocnema, and appears to be the Linnean species.

E. Solani:

It is of a lively green colour, but fades after death to a yellowish green: the head is broad, short, and crescent-shaped above, with two lateral prominent brown eyes: head, & c, in profile: the face is beneath, somewhat oval and very long, the apex producing a rostrum, and in a cavity on each side, before the eyes-are inserted the antennae, which are short, and like two fine bristles, arising from two minute subglobose joints: the trunk is smooth, transverse, and semi-orbicular.

The scutel is triangular, acuminated at the apex the abdomen tapers to the apex, and is conical in the female, with long and stout ovipositor beneath, formed of two sheaths, ciliated with hairs and inclosing the oviduct wings four, lying over the back in a convex form, when at rest; the superior called elytra, are twice as long as the body, narrow and elliptical, the nervures scarcely visible; they are very glossy and iridescent, the extremity rusty inferior wings ample, nearly as long as the elytra, beneath which they are folded, being exceedingly delicate and iridescent the six legs are very slender, the first pair are short the hinder very long; thighs short and slender; the anterior shanks are armed with spines on the inside only and not to the apex; the hinder are long with a double row of spiny bristles on the outside; feet moderately long and triarticulate, basal joint the shortest second the longest, but in the hinder pair the basal joint is the longest; claws and pulvilli minute.

The females have been observed by Mr. FJ. Graham, depositing their eggs under the potato leaves: these are white, cylindrical, and somewhat shuttle-shaped, more pointed at one end than at the other, and striated with numerous furrows forming ridges; the little creatures which hatch from them are green, with two horns and six legs, as well as a rostrum to pierce the cuticle of the plant.

The pupa is green, and nearly as the parents, but narrower: the body tapers considerably: the head is broad, and the two black eyes the stout rostrum lies under the breast, extending to the hinder hips: it is flexible and three-jointed, inclosing the four mandibles and maxillae, which protrude beyond the apex like the finest bristles, the lateral lobes inclosing the future wings look like the pinions of a bird: it has six legs, the hinder pair being the longest.

When these pupae are full grown they attach their feet to stalk or leaf, and by bursting the horny skin on the back, the perfect insect crawls out, and is thus liberated. These skins, as well as those cast off by the larvae during their growth, are sometimes seen in multitudes adhering to the foliage or lying on the ground beneath.

The perfect potato frog-fly is often abundant from the middle of August to the end of September, when not un-frequently a dozen may be seen on one leaf. In dull whether they have a curious mode of evading notice by sidling round to the opposite side of the stem or beneath a leaf, but in bright warm days they leap and fly short distances. The other species, which is equally abundant, has been named by fabricius.

M. Exoleta:

It is oval, convex, shining, and ochreous: the head is black, with prominent eyes, two long clavate ten-jointed horns, two basal joints elongated, third a little shorter, the extremity dusky: thorax punctured, deep ochreous, transverse, slightly narrowed before sides rounded; scutel minute: elytra pale ochreous, the suture pitchy; there are eight faintly – punctured striae on each, and a short one on either side of the scutel wings ample under side pitchy legs dark ochre hinder thighs very thick and pitchy; the shanks rather short, the internal angle forming a curved lobe at the apex, which is cut off obliquely; feet four-jointed, third joint bilobed; hinder very long and inserted on the inside of the shank, basal joint as long as the others united: the apex furnished with two claws.

Sphinx Atropos-the Death’s-Head., or Bee Tiger-Moth:

Potato leaves do not seem very palatable to caterpillars, for, with the exception of two green striped ones and those of the death’s-head sphinx, I do not know of any which feed upon them. The noble larva of this moth is occasionally abundant in potato grounds, sufficiently so lately to induce the peasants in Kent to collect and give them to their poultry; yet thirty years back they were far from common, since British specimens of the moth were so much sought after by naturalists, that half a guinea was willingly paid for a fine native example.

The unusual abundance both of the caterpillars and moths in 1846, was owing, it is presumed, to the high temperature in June and September, and it is not a little surprising that they should have escaped being included in the calendar with the other insects accused of destroying the potato crops; more especially as the moth bears a very bad character: even its name of “Atropos” is intended to imply its awful errand, as well as the familiar ones of Death’s-head, Todtenkoph, which it bears in this country.

In France, and Germany, appellations derived from the image impressed upon its back; so that when Atropos intrudes itself into a dwelling amongst the rural inhabitants of the Continent, it causes no little consternation, since it is considered the messenger of pestilence and famine, if not of death. It is undoubtedly to be dreaded by bees for it has the audacity to enter their hives and lap up the honey. It is from this propensity it has received the English name of “Bee Tiger-moth,” and it is supposed to gain admission by imitating the note of the queen bee; and being so thickly clothed with velvet over a horny case, it may laugh to scorn the stings of the bees.

This handsome moth is certainly a remarkable creature – it is so conspicuous from its size that no one can overlook it for it is a big as a bat, the human skull depicted on its back is often very perfect, and it can utter a cry something like the faint squeak of a mouse, but more plaintive. The caterpillar rests like the classic Sphinx of Egypt, hence that distinction has been assigned to it, and it is very remarkable that an Egyptian mummy bears a great resemblance to the brown horny chrysalis. It is not yet ascertained where the female moth lays her eggs; they must be as large as mustard seeds and cannot be deposited upon the foliage of the potatoes by the autumn brood indeed it has been ascertained that the females are then sterile. It is therefore quite possible that the eggs are generally laid by the earlier brood upon or under the potato leaves.

The caterpillars seem to have fed principally upon the leaves of the jasmine formerly, although they will live upon the bittersweet, tomato, thorn-apple, spindle-tree, elder, damson, and hemp. They come out to feed at night, and grow until they are nearly- as long and as thick as a lad’s middle finger, when they are of a yellowish or greenish tint, with seven oblique bands on each side, forming scutel angles on the back; these stripes are blue, lilac, and white the head is horny and furnished with strong jaws; it has six pectoral feet like claws, eight fleshy abdominal feet, and two similar anal ones, above which is a rough curled tail, and on each side are nine breathing pores called spiracles.

When full grown the caterpillar buries itself in the earth where, with a fluid from its mouth, and by the action of its head and body it forms a smooth oval cell: having rested from this labour, it draws off its skin, and then is wonderfully transformed into a chrysalis or pupa, in closed in a horny shell of a chestnut colour; the head blunt, the tail pointed, the eyes, proboscis, and wings being defined, and the body composed of several rings with breathing pores on each side, and if touched or breathed upon it wriggles its body to and fro. The first brood of caterpillars is thus transformed in July, and these produce moths in September and October, whilst those that arrive at perfection in the autumn do not hatch until the following spring.

The moth belongs to the Order Lepidoptera, the Family Sphingidae, and was included in the Genus Sphinx, until it was separated from that immense family and received the appellation of Acherontia.

T. Atropos:

It is bright ochreous: head transverse with a black stripe on the crown, spreading along the base and terminating in a point on the face; eyes lateral, with three ocelli in triangle on the crown; antennae black, the basal portion orange, long and setaceous, inserted close together near the middle of the face, composed of about forty joints, first joint the stoutest: thorax robust, oval, and black; scapulars, aline before them and a spot beneath, ochreous; seutel conical and yellow; postseutel rough with a shining knob – at the base, and two elevated lines down the middle, forked at their extremities: abdomen long, elliptical, clavate, attached to the thorax by a clubbed petiole; slender at the base, sometimes with a black line beneath, seven – jointed, the four last segments black; wings ample, shining golden yellow, the hinder margins smoky, superior with a pentagonal areolet; stigma and nervures ferruginous legs stout, first pair the smallest, hinder the largest: coxae black; hinder thighs the thickest, black at the apex especially beneath; anterior shanks short, hinder long, brown at the tips; feet longer than the shanks, five – jointed, terminated by two strong claws tipped with black, and dusky pulvilli between. The proportion of colour varies in different specimens, some have only a few orange joints at the base, whilst others are only black beyond the middle of the antennae; a portion, or the whole of the fourth abdominal segment is ochreous, as well as the under sides of the coxae, with no black at the extremities of the hinder thighs and shanks, in other examples.

10. Acari or Mites:

On the dead haulm of the potato these little creatures congregate for the sake of feeding upon the Botrytis or other fungi. One which Mr. Graham found, had been no doubt breeding through the winter, for they often generate in cavities under stones, and a larger and darker species resides in quantities under the tomato leaves in the autumn.

A. Atropos:

The wings sometimes expand five or six inches: it is densely clothed with short pile, like fustian: the eyes are large and prominent, and close to them at the back part of the head are inserted the horns, which are stoutest in the males, rather short, robust, and black narrowed at the base, white and hooked at the tips: in front of the head are two erect palpi, and between them a short, stout, horny, black proboscis, which is rolled up spirally in repose the thorax, as well as the head and superior wings, are black, with an ashy tint; on the former is an orange – coloured figure resembling a human skull, with the neck and collar bones: the abdomen is black with a greyish stripe down the back, and five or six long orange spots on each side, alternating with as many black bands wings sloping (like the roof of a house) in repose; superior black minutely freckled with white, variegated with rusty patches, and several black transverse broken waved lines: one near the base, two others nearer the apex, and a spot on the disk, bright ochreous; inferior wings bright orange, with two black indented bars nearly parallel with the margin, which is formed of orange spots; the fringe of the wings is scarcely visible: it has six stout black legs, with two strong and distinct claws on each foot.

Although the death’s-head caterpillars either retire into the ground by day or otherwise secrete themselves, coming forth principally at nigh to feed, they are not secure against the untiring diligence of an ichneumon fly, which lays her eggs in the body of the larvae, where the maggot hatches, grown to a large size, and changes to a pupa within its victim, from which eventually the parasite emerges instead of the moth.

O. Castaneus:

It is as small as a cheese-mite, very glossy, pear-shaped, and of a rusty chestnut colour: the trunk is conical and conceals the head; it is distinctly separated from the body by a transverse channel; the latter is oval and dilated, being very convex with a few long hairs scattered about: the eight legs are rather long and of a dirty ochreous tint, sparingly clothed with longish hairs, they are six – jointed; the hips and trochanters are short; the thighs are short and clavate, as well as the shanks, which have a little joint at the base; the foot is elongated but clubbed at the base, and terminated by a single long curved claw.