. The book of the garden. Gardening. GARDEN CENTIPEDE. those enemies known as surface-grubs, and often attack the turnip-bulb, particularly in gardens where the plants are nearly full grown. These have also their natural enemies in the genus Cryp- tops—Scolopendraof Fig. 76. some(thecentipedes), Ifthevalueof these were rightly understood, the vul- gar prejudice against them would be re- moved. They are all of the carnivorous or flesh-eating section, and devour immense numbers of underground grubs, larvse, &c. They live entirely on the insects they find in the soU; they are of a rus
. The book of the garden. Gardening. GARDEN CENTIPEDE. those enemies known as surface-grubs, and often attack the turnip-bulb, particularly in gardens where the plants are nearly full grown. These have also their natural enemies in the genus Cryp- tops—Scolopendraof Fig. 76. some(thecentipedes), Ifthevalueof these were rightly understood, the vul- gar prejudice against them would be re- moved. They are all of the carnivorous or flesh-eating section, and devour immense numbers of underground grubs, larvse, &c. They live entirely on the insects they find in the soU; they are of a rusty-red colour, more than an inch in length; antenn8ehairy,having seventeen joints; legs hairy, having twenty-one on each side. One species, Cryptops hortensis, is almost entirely confined to the southern counties of England; the rest are common everywhere. Amongst lepidopterous insects—that is, those of the butterfly and moth kind—there are some species injurious to turnip crops, which are thus described by Mr Stephens in " The Book of the Farm," vol. ii. p. 79 :— "Cerostoma xylostella (the turnip diamond- back moth), fig. 77.—When at rest, the wings are Fig. 77. colour. " The antennae have white scales; the abdomen is ash grey, with brown, tufts; the Pig. TURNIP DIAMOND-BACK MOTH, closed and deflexed, and the horns are projected forward in a straight line. It is more or less brown. The upper wings are long and narrow, and, when closed, form two or three diamonds upon the back. The inferior wings are lance- shaped, and of an ash colour, with a very long fringe. Its length is 2^ Mnes. The caterpillar is green, about half an inch in length, slender, and tapering to both ends. They are exceed- ingly active, and on the slightest touch wriggle themselves off the leaf they are feeding on, and let themselves down by a silken thread, and re- main suspended tUl the cause of alarm subsides. As many as 240 have been counted on one leaf; and such is their
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectgardening, bookyear18
