age, particularly on a large scale, and without coöpera tion, would be impracticable.

The Zebra Caterpillar (Mamestra picta,) is not suffi

Fig. 28.-SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY (Pieris Protodice).
a, Larva; b, Chrysalis.

ciently numerous to do much harm. The Cabbage Pionea (P. rimosalis,) I have never found upon the cabbage.

REMEDIES FOR CABBAGE-WORMS.

The numerous deterrent remedies recommended as effective against the cabbage-worms, although many may

Fig. 29.-SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY-Female.

be distasteful or offensive to them, are all comparatively worthless. This is owing partly to the impossibility of their being made to reach every part of the plant haunted by the insect, particularly the under surface of the leaf, and the interior of the head. Among the proposed

remedies are: red pepper, soot, lime, ashes, salt, sulphur, solution of copperas, yeast, soap-suds, etc. Water heated to one hundred and forty, or even to one hundred and sixty degrees, was at one time highly praised as an insecticide; but the same objection applies to it as to the others. Were it not hazardous to apply to the eatable portions of vegetables, like the cabbage, etc., poisons dangerous to man, we would have an effective means in Paris green or London purple for the removal of these insects. The remedy for cabbage-worms, tested and recom

a, Larva; b, Moth.

mended by our best authority on such matters, Prof. Riley, is Pyrethrum powder. This is also called "Dalmatian," or "Persian Insect Powder," and the name "California Buhach," is given to the fresher and therefore more effective Californian product. This is not a mere deterrent, rendering the part of the plant it touches obnoxious to the worm, but it acts as a poison by contact, convulsing and paralyzing the insect. While this powder is very effective with some kinds of insects, it is

comparatively harmless to others, and is more effective on young worms than on older ones of the same species. It is more fatal to the caterpillars of Pieris butterflies than to those of the Plusia moth. The powder does not always kill the worm, but merely so disables it that it falls to the ground, where it will readily become the prey of ants and other natural enemies.

Pyrethrum seems to owe its virtues to a volatile oil, and its effects are not lasting in the open air. It may be used in the form of dry powder, mixed, if fresh, with from ten to twenty parts of flour, and blown by means of a bellows, or dusted upon the plant. It may also be used in the form of an alcoholic tincture, as a tea or decoction, or even a mere solution or infusion in water, and applied by means of an atomizer or sprinkler. The fumes of burning Pyrethrum are applicable only in greenhouses or in dwelling rooms, which may be cleared of flies and mosquitoes by its use.

PLANT-LICE.

The astounding fecundity of plant-lice (Aphides), and their peculiar habit of attacking stunted plants, have already been mentioned. If the season be not too far advanced, or the plants too large, a badly infested cabbage should be pulled up, removed from the field, and its place supplied by a clean and healthy one.

The same valueless applications, with the addition of tobacco water and snuff (tobacco smoke in greenhouses), as in the case of the cabbage-worms, have been also recommended for plant-lice. Pyrethrum may be better than any other, but it would be useless to apply remedies to a large, badly infested cabbage, in the hope that it would ever become marketable. If of any effect, its application might destroy some plant-lice, but I have never carefully examined an infested plant without finding some of the natural enemies of the aphides at work

among them, and, if left alone, the lice would eventually succumb. An effective application would probably destroy friend as well as foe. My only success in fighting plant-lice was by transferring the larvæ of the lady-bird from less valuable ruta bagas to cauliflowers or cabbages. The best advice in the premises is: prepare the land thoroughly, manure it richly, and cultivate the crop frequently and carefully, thus securing such vigorous and luxuriant growth that the losses by cabbage-lice will be insignificant.

INSECT ENEMIES OF PLANT-LICE.

The insect enemies of the plant-lice are legion, else they would devour every green living thing upon the earth. Some of these enemies are enumerated below. One or two of the species of lady-birds may be confined to other plant-lice than the Aphis brassica. The ladybirds, both in the perfect and larval state, feed upon little else than plant-lice. Of these there are:

First. The Nine-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinella 9-notata). Nearly round, brick-red, with nine black spots.

Second. The Two-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinella bipunctata). Similar to No. 1, smaller, with two black spots. Third. The Spotted Lady-bird (Megilla maculata). Imported from Europe. Pink, with large black spots.

Fourth. The Thirteen-spotted Lady-bird (Hippodamia 13-punctata). Brick-red, with thirteen black spots. Fifth. The Trim Lady-bird (Cycloneda sanguinea). It has no black spots.

Sixth. The Convergent Lady-bird (Hippodamia convergens). Deep orange-red, marked with black and white. Seventh. The Fifteen-spotted Mysia (Mysia 15punctata). From light gray to chestnut-brown, with fifteen black spots.

Eighth. The Twice-stabbed Lady-bird (Chilocorus bivulnerus). Highly polished black, with two red spots.

Besides these, there are many less common kinds. Prominent among the enemies of the plant-lice are the larvæ of the Golden-eyed and Lace-winged flies, called Aphis-lions.

Other enemies are the larvæ of Syrphus-flies, somewhat resembling a leech in shape. Besides being preyed upon by all these insects, the plant-lice are subject to several genera of tiny parasites included in the genus Aphidius.

Fig. 31.-HARLEQUIN CABBAGE BUG (Strachia histrionica).
a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Eggs; d, Perfect Bug.

and are about one-twenThe little round, plump, aphides, or remaining on

They have mostly black bodies, tieth of an inch in length. smooth bodies in a colony of the leaf of a plant after the removal of the colony by other enemies, are dead parasitized aphides containing the parasitic pupa of an ichneumon fly.

The Harlequin-bug made its appearance in Georgia, from Mexico, about the commencement of Mr. Lincoln's first presidency, from which circumstances it received the local name of "Lincoln-bug," by which it is still known in Southern Georgia. In 1867 it had reached North

Carolina.

This insect winters in its perfect state, and the first