Garden Pests in New Zealand: A Popular Manual for Practical Gardeners, Farmers and SchoolsMiller, David
Philosophy
Garden Pests in New Zealand: A Popular Manual for Practical Gardeners, Farmers and Schools
Miller, David
Agricultural pests; Beneficial insects; Insect pests; Insects -- New Zealand
The small globular eggs are laid in clusters on the leaves of the food
plant. At first they are pale green, later becoming dark yellow, and
just before the young caterpillars emerge from them they change to a
leaden colour. When fully fed, the caterpillar seeks a sheltered place
(beneath stones, under, bark, etc.), and there spins a loose cocoon, in
which it transforms to the chrysalis; the latter becomes blackish or
brownish in colour, with yellow markings. There are several generations
during the year.
Cinerarias can be protected by spraying with lead arsenate, or, better,
by removing the caterpillars by hand and destroying them.
CABBAGE TREE MOTH(_Venusia verriculata_).--The foliage of the
cabbage tree is frequently holed on the surface and notched along
the edges--this is the work of the cabbage tree moth caterpillars.
The history of the insect is as follows:--The nocturnal moth
measures about an inch and a-half across the expanded wings, which
are characteristically coloured by alternating chocolate-brown and
yellowish-white lines running from wing-tip to wing-tip across the
body, so that the insect merges into the general pattern and colour
of a dead leaf, upon which it usually rests. The eggs are green, and
at first blend with the green leaf, on which they are often laid in
batches; when on dead leaves they become conspicuous. Later the eggs
change colour to brown, and finally red. The caterpillars congregate in
the unopened foliage, and their injury becomes apparent as the leaves
open. The larvæ transform to chrysalids in silken cocoons, loosely
spun in any suitable crevice upon the trees. If it was necessary and
practicable to protect ornamental cabbage trees from the attacks of
this insect, it could be done by removing dead leaves from the crown
and spraying with arsenate of lead to which laundry soap had been added.
BAG MOTH(_Œceticus omnivorus_).--This is an insect that never fails to
attract attention on account of its cigar-shaped bags (Fig. 10, 8),
constructed by the larvæ, and are to be found attached to a variety of
plants, upon the foliage of which the larvæ feed, though they are not
serious pests. Each caterpillar spins its own tough silken bag, which
it never leaves, and to the outside of which it frequently attaches
fragments of leaves and twigs. Though the male is a normal moth,
and flies about (it is practically black, and densely haired, with
translucent smoky-black wings having an expanse of about an inch and
a-quarter), the female develops in an abnormal manner, and assumes a
grub-like form, never leaving the bag woven by its caterpillar.
If it should be found necessary, as sometimes happens, the only
satisfactory way of controlling the bag-moth is to remove by hand and
destroy.
Beetles.
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