THE PRICKLY PEAR.
ITS NATURAL ENEMY FOUND. WORK OF A CATERPILLAR. (Per Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 12.5 a p.m.) BRISBANE, This Dtay. The Government's ' efforts to cope -with the prickly pear pest by utilising the services of the cochineal insect and the catablastus caterpillar are being attended l with hopeful results. In February last year, 20,000 eggs of the cataMastus moth were imported and placed on the leaves of the pear at Emerald. These hatched well, and <now millions «f caterpillars have spread themselves ojer an area exceeding a radius of two Bides from the place of release, and within that area there are evident feigns of their destruction. The caterpillar does its work thoroughly and never leaves a clump of pear till it is reduced to a mass of fibre, which can easily be destroyed by fire. The insect also Staves behind it a substance which has a. poisonous effect on the pear, preventing its regrowth, and which it is hoped may be utilised as the basis for a- serum from which a cheap spray for destroying the pest on a large scale may be obtained. The caterpillar is proving more effective than the cochineal insect. _ The former does as much destruction in a day as the latter does jn a month.
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Bibliographic details
Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVIII, Issue 10984, 2 August 1927, Page 5
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214THE PRICKLY PEAR. Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVIII, Issue 10984, 2 August 1927, Page 5
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