, 1882-04-01

III IOb a EiNRb 'AA 80
and reveal to US what insect it is to which
the mischief is due. In the present ia
stance the ev il-dner turned out to be a
dull whitey-brown innocent.lOoklng moth,
not much larger than a common ''candle
fy." It would scarcely be credited that
such O small creature could do SO much
mischief. AS the wings meet the whole
length over the back ard are rather mar
row, the form is that Of an acute-angled-
triangle and in my specimen, obtained
from the cane in the way described, the
entire lenglh is not quite haIlau-irch, and
the breadth OF the base OF the triangle,
that is across the broadcast part Of the wing,
only about a @ quarter OF an inch, To help
YOUR readers to recognize The moth will
try, though without pretending TO any
scientific accuracy, to describe it more
fully. II is, as lreadY mentioned, OF a
whitey-brown colour, and has a faint,
scarcely percepti0le grey marx on the
back Of the wiugs, rcsen bling the letter
V made with a double line, tie two lines
curving into each other at the spreading
ends Of the letter, the point Of. ;he V. be
irgdirected towards the head. This mark
has faded out in the dead Specimen. The
outer or upper rings are corrugated or
furrowpd Iengthwlse, aud each alternate
furrow ends in the lower edge Of the wing
with a minute black dot, Of which there
are sever. on each wing. The wings are
fringed. The under par of wings does not
seem to be distinctly corrugated ana does
rot shew the black dots. The a%ntennae
Oh0ugh these were not examined till after
tie specimen had been kept some days,
and they may therefore have been
iriured) appear to be very short, and
spring from over the eyes, which are
black. 9tese details cannot Of course be
made out without tie help Of a lens.
Having learned what the insect is, we
may go back TO study our bored canes.
We shall notice that the boring invariably
begins from a minute hole ia The cane rind,
and gets wider as it goes jnwa!ds with
patience we may find the grub in a very
young stage, near 10 such polnts Of eauy.
The question is how does it get there, aud
this must of course he answered by obser-
walton. The probability is, however, that
the moth deposits its egg on the surface oil
the cane or Of a leaf IN close proximity,
Ond that, when the little grub is patched,
it's horny mandibles enable it to eat its
way through the cane rind. II this is SO,
we may infer that the instinct of the
mother mot would direct her to place her
eggs on the sotteSt canes and 10 this con-
nectIun | have noticed Tint pIant-canes
appear to be attacked more than ratoOns
and late planted canes of weakly growth
more than robust forward canes. Hence
on the assumption that the moth is most
abundant towards the end Of the growing
season, early planting may be one Of the
means of resisting this enemy, and thorough
cultivation NAV be another but as my
observations in this direction are very Ii
mited / writeopen to correction audfurtber
information from older observers. AS ad-
ditional points | may mention that the
direction of the grub's working in the cane
is almost always upwards, and that in
those cases where the chrysaIis was found
in the cane it was near to q hole sufici-
emily large to allow the moth to escape,
a p%rovisio no doubt made by the grub
before passing into the pupa stage.
Whether the pupa stage is atoayS passed
inthe cane / cannot say, as in only two out
of many empty borings examined could
the empty case ofthe pupa be found. This,as
well as many other points, requires further
observation.
l am yours truly