Insect Friends and Foes.

BY CLAUDE FULLER.

THE Lady-bird Nuisance! Under this heading or headings of an equally misleading character many notices and letters have of late appeared in the metropolitan and country press. All of these articles related to the destruction caused by a small yellow and black beetle, sometimes called the Banded Pumpkin Beetle, and known technically as Aulocophora hilaris, Boisd.

This beetle feeds upon many plants frequented by the 28-spotted lady-bird, Epilachna 28-punctata, and it does damage very similar in character. It is, moreover, quite a common occurrence to find these two insects side by side upon the same plants, and this association of two equally destructive species has, no doubt, led to the misapplying of the term "ladybird" to Aulocophora hilaris, and with the unfortunate result that the whole of the group of Coccinellida, to which the appellation properly belongs, has been, in the most general terms, denounced and described as a scourge.

The Coccinellidae, or true ladybirds may be roughly divided into two divisions, the beneficial, or those whose nature it is to prey upon scaleinsects and aphides, and the destructive, or those which are foliage-eaters. Considering that out of the many species of ladybirds to be found in this Colony only two belong to the destructive class, namely, Epilachna 28-punctata and Epilachna guttato-pustulata, it could not but be regarded as a catastrophe if the whole of the ladybirds were to be ostracised on their

account.

In view, therefore, of the large amount of confusion and consequent misunderstanding which has arisen through the erroneous use of the word "ladybird," it has been considered advisable to republish an abbreviated version of parts of the notes dealing with the true ladybirds from the able pen of the late Mr. A. S. Olliff, which appeared in the early numbers of this Gazette together with some notes on the Banded Pumpkin Beetle.

DESTRUCTIVE BEETLES.

The Banded Pumpkin Beetle-Aulocophora hilaris, Boisd. We will start by describing this destructive species first, chiefly because, though somewhat resembling the ladybirds, it differs it many essentials from them, and, moreover, belongs to a distinct group of beetles.

A. hilaris is a small but brilliant beetle, measuring about half an inch in length. The wing-covers a bright orange yellow, and traversed anteriorly and posteriorly with two broad black bands. It is a very active insect, and on warm days flies with great rapidity from plant to plant.

Vegetable gardens are the chief centres of attack selected by the insects; and pumpkins, marrows, and other cucurbitaceous plants are the principal sufferers. Potato-tops are also eaten by them, but in a lesser degree.

Whilst the plants are young and tender they are often completely ruined through the fleshy part of the leaves being eaten away, leaving only the skeletons and stalks, which wither rapidly in the heat of the sun. When the plants have become older and the leaves harsher, the beetle transfers its preference to the flowers, and the large juicy petals appear, from the numbers found on them, to be greatly relished by them.

When first brought under the notice of this Department some four or five years ago, Aulocophora hilaris was only considered common in and about

the Parramatta district, although specimens had been received from a few other localities, including Lismore, Grafton, and Maitland. At the present time the Banded Pumpkin Beetle may be said to extend over the whole Colony, or at any rate to those parts where such every day vegetables are grown as those upon which it feeds; more especially in the maize-growing districts, where the habit of growing pumpkins amongst that grain gives the bettles happy and undisturbed breeding grounds. A. hilaris has also been observed feeding upon the common dock and the blackberry-weed Solanum nigrum. As was previously remarked in the first notice which appeared in Vol. III. of this Gazette by the late Mr. A. S. Olliff, the earlier stages of A. hilaris are not known; neither the eggs, larvæ, nor pupa having been observed; these remarks still apply, although many efforts have since been made to find them. The earlier stages are reasonably supposed to be passed underground, still nothing resulted from a careful examination of the soil of a garden which has been infested for the past two summers; the only indication being a number of small holes near and about the stocks of the vines. It may be added that an attempt is now being made to rear the insects in confinement, and hopes are entertained of its ultimate success. It is of course desirable that these stages should be known in order to be in a better position to mitigate its attack.

The 28-Spotted Lady-bird (Epilachna vigintiocto-punctata Fabr).

This insect could not be better mentioned than directly after A. hilaris, and the following description is by the late Mr. A. S. Olliff, and appeared in Part 3, Vol. I, of the Agricultural Gazette:

"This insect is one of the worst enemies of potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes, and other solanaceous and cucurbitaceous plants, causing great damage to the foliage by feeding in the adult and larval stages on either side of the leaf. Occasionally it makes its appearance in such vast numbers that the crops are almost completely destroyed, every leaf having large patches eaten away on one surface or the other. It is in the larval stage that the greater part of the damage is done, as the perfect beetle eats comparatively little; in both

Since writing the above several beetles, kept in captivity for several weeks past, have laid a number of small globular yellow eggs upon the floor of their cage.-C.F.

stages, however, the surface only of the leaf is eaten, and the epidermis of the side opposite to that on which the insect is feeding is left untouched.

The eggs are placed side by side in small patches on the stems or leaves of the food-plant, each egg being elongate ovate in shape and attached by the thicker end. They are pale yellow in colour. The larva, when full grown, is yellow, somewhat shining, elongate, robust, slightly narrowed in front and behind, armed with numerous erect branched spines. When about to change to the pupal condition the larvæ congregate in considerable numbers upon the stem of the potato, or other plant upon which they are living, and affix themselves in masses, side by side, by means of a sticky secretion which is emitted from the terminal segment of the abdomen. The skin of the larva is not completely cast off after the transformation is undergone, but is retained as a covering for the pupa, an arrangement which doubtless affords it protection from certain. enemies.

The pupa measures about a quarter of an inch in length is

Pupa of Epilachna, with larval skin Epilachna 28-punctata, Fabr. Leaf-eating or covering removed (magnified).

Ladybird (magnified).

Dorsal spine of larva

of same (magnified).

shining brown, and has the thorax and wing-covers clothed with erect brown bristles. The perfect insect or beetle is ovate and very convex in

shape, orange-yellow in colour, with rather large black spots. The whole surface of the insect is clothed with fine gray pubescence. The head is provided with yellow antenna with brown clubs; eyes black; prothorax with an indistinct median line, and furnished with black markings. These markings vary in number; sometimes the centre of the prothorax is occupied by a large patch, with a smaller patch on each side, but more frequently the central patch is divided into three or five smaller spots; the scutellum black; elytra twenty-eight spotted, each wing-case having fourteen irregular black spots; the legs are yellowish-brown. Length, 6-7 mm.

The presence of an acrid secretion, which this plant-eating ladybird possesses in common with the useful kinds, and the fact that the larva and pupa are furnished with sharp spines, will perhaps account for the immunity from enemies enjoyed by these insects. It is very doubtful if the Epilachna is eaten by insectivorous birds in any of its stages. It is, however, subject to the attacks of minute hymenoptera, and Mr. Tryon asserts that "the caterpillar of a minute feather-winged moth lives and spins its web amongst their pupa, and, doubtless, feeds on them in some way which we have not yet discovered." If the moth alluded to is one of the Pterophoride, or Plume moths, as appears to be the case, the habit is a most singular one, and deserves the fullest investigation.

The Destructive Lady-bird (Epilachna guttato-pustulata, Fabr.)

This insect is by no means so well known a pest as the two previously mentioned beetles, but upon the Northern rivers it is as great an enemy of potato-plants as E. 28-punctata, and indeed it only needs to become as widely distributed to become as great a pest as that insect is. E. guttato pustulata is a larger and handsomer beetle than E. 28-punctata, its prominent colours being red and yellow on a black background, and, like the latter insect, it has a fine hairy coat. The larva of this beetle is also ornamented with branched spines.

The following general remarks on the Epilachnine are quoted from Mr. Olliff's article, page 66, Part 2, Vol II, of the Agricultural Gazette:

"Besides the many beneficial or true lady-birds (Coccinellina) we have some plant-eating species belonging to a different group-the Epilachnine-and these, unfortunately, are frequently mistaken for the friendly kinds; and still worse, the friendly species are often destroyed by the agriculturist in the mistaken belief that they are next cousin to the little beetles he has seen eating the leaves of his potatoes and pumpkins, and therefore equally destructive. Although belonging to the same family of beetles, these destructive species are not genuine lady-birds in the strict sense of the term, and with

B

very little trouble they may be distinguished from our friends. By entomologists they are separated into a group or sub-family called Epilachnine or Coccinelle phytophagi, on account of their plant-eating habits; and they are distinguished from the genuine lady-birds by having several small teeth at the tips of the jaws or mandibles, whereas our friends, the true lady-birds or Coccinelline, have the jaws simple or merely cleft at the extremity. Besides the difference in structure, the destructive Epilachnine differ in shape, as a glance at the accompanying illustrations will show. They are usually larger

in size, are thickly pubescent or hairy (whereas our friends are smooth and glabrous, except in the case of the smaller Scymni, &c.), the sides of the prothorax are but slightly curved and are broadly explanate, and those of the elytra or winged-cases are rather strongly upturned."

Suggested Remedies for Plant-eating Beetles.

In mentioning a few of the remedies recommended for these insects, too much stress cannot be laid upon the necessity of having a good spray-pump to apply such as are used in a liquid state. It is impossible to successfully apply a spray with a garden-syringe; and the bad results which follow the indiscriminate swabbing on or drenching of trees with mixtures are invariably attributed to the mixture, whereas the real fault lies in the unskilful way in which the remedy has been applied.

Spraying is one of the developments of progressive agriculture, and with it have been evolved many excellent designs of pumps, the possession of one of which by farmer or fruit grower cannot be too strongly recommended.

When applying a spray it is as well to always bear in mind that the finer the spray, and the more even its distribution, the more likely is the result to be a success; neither can it be too often repeated that the plants should never be drenched; the spraying should be discontinued as soon as the leaves are fairly damp without dripping.

The three insects spoken of live on the fleshy portions of the plant, and, consequently, if a poison is applied to those parts, the destruction of a large number of insects is assured.

Paris Green, an arsenical poison, has been proved the most efficacious for this kind of work, and is best prepared according to the following formula:1 lb. shell or stone-lime, 1 lb. Paris Green, 3 quarts molasses. Sufficient water is added to the lime to slake it, and while boiling the Paris Green is