MATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22050, 25 March 1937, Page 7 (Supplement)

MATURE NOTES

(By L. W. McCaskill)

George Watson, of Cust, has sent some leaves stuck together with gome "grubs" between them. If we look at almost any shruo, nedge plant, or fruit tree, during the summer months we should be able to Hud two leaves stuck together. On gently pulling the leaves apart we should also find the cause of the trouble—a small greenish caterpillar. There is always a struggle for existence between one insect and another and between mscc.s and birds. Leaf feeding insects are 'fairly easily found by birds, especially if they feed on the upper side of the leaf. The leaf rollers solve the problem by sticking two or more leaves together with silk threads. Inside the tent thus formed they are able to feed on the leaves in full daylight and ycl be quite safe from attack. Leaf rollers comprise a large family of moths with 102 kinds in New Zealand and 299 in Australia. Dr Miller, of Cawthron Institute, Nelson, has calculated that 84 per cent, of the caterpillars .found in New Zealand are the larvae of a moth known as the Australian apple-leaf roller. Not that it confines its attention to apples. In Christchurch I have seen it on pears, geraniums, roses, pines, oaks and a dozen different shrubs. The winter is passed in the caterpillar stage between the leaves.

fThe Gaperings of Carrie the Cackle Conqueror

(Continued from page 6)

Signs of clearing, Anne would leave quite large patches of blue and purple in the snow, which, of course, would have been the very thing had they been lost. Rescuers could have followed the blue dots and purple patches. But they did not get lost. Thry got very w* instead, so Red Dawn said there would be no Cackle Conquering that day and back they scampered to the hut to change quickly into dry clothing. Anne was navy blue and purple right down to her skin and looked like a Zebra whose etripes had all gone blotchy. Red Dawn and Rani laughed all the way home about it, but Anne did not think it so very funny, especially as it took three hard scrubbing to get it all off. „ "Third time is sure to be lucky, said Albert the Halbert to Carrie the Cackle Conqueror and Prudence the Pick Axe as they were going "Let us hope so," said Carrie and Prudence, who are most specially anxious to conquer this Cackle called Rolleston, which grows at the back of Arthur's Pass.

Fireflies

(By Barbara Jekyll)

Fairyland could not be more attractive than a summer night in Italy, as you gaze put over the fields or gardens at the myriads of tiny fluttering lights. It is as though the stars had come to earth to join in some spritely dance. These are the little fireflies, so beloved of Italian children and called by them "chiare belle" (beautiful lights), for when they go to bed, the fireflies come in at the window, and should they wake during the night —there they are still flitting about the room.

LEAF ROLLER CATERPILLARS

Quite early in the spring, these caterpillars pupate and very soon emerge as small, inconspicuous, yellow and brown moths. These moths soon set about the business of egg laying and it is the resulting caterpillars which cause us so much trouble during the summer and autumn. Most harm is caused in orchards, partly by destroying the leaves, but mainly by the habit of the caterpillars in sticking a leaf on to an apple or pear or stone fruit and under the shelter of this leaf feeding on the sjcin of the fruit, making it unsaleable. If arsenate of lead is used regularly to control codlin moth, leaf roller caterpillar is also controlled. Unfortunately it feeds much later into the autumn than does the codlin and extra sprays must then be used for the leaf roller. It is quite a common occurrence in Nature for one insect to parasitise another. If many . leaves stuck together by leaf rollers are collected and placed in glass jars, it is very doubtful if all will eventually produce moths. In some cases there will emerge small wasp-like insects. The adult wasp would lay an egg on the leaf roller caterpillar. Or hatching from the egg the wasp grub would devour the caterpillar arid pupate to emerge late as a wasp.

The Italian firefly is a beetle like the glow-worm. Both sexes can fly and are equally phosphorescent. The luminous organs are a pair of round polished bosses on the thorax, and a patch on the abdomen. This is invisible In repose, but exposed during flight; by movements of the tail it can be hidden or visible, so that the light flashes intermittently. It sounds a little like the Morse Code, or Whistling Willie, of Lyttelton Harbour. What wonderful little creatures they are! The side lights, which give a stronger, pale-green glow, can be switched on at the Will of the insect. They are considered by the Italians, who are very superstitious, to be lucky, and should one settle on your hand, it would assuredly augur some good fortune.

A COMPETITION For Girls and Boys of 16. Years and Under Prizes for Crosswords There will be two prizes each week for cdrrect answers to the crossword puzzle on page 3. One prize will be for the first correct answer opened next Tuesday morning (this gives distant readers time to enter), and the other prize will be for the neatest correct answer received. All envelopes should be marked "crossword" so that they will be kept till Tuesday, when they will be put in a box, from which they will be drawn. Every correct entry has a chance of winning the prize. This seems a fair way of arranging the competition for readers who live close at hand and those who live far away.

Write your solutions in columns on separate paper: do not send the puzzle itself. And write your choice of a prize with your name and address on the answer paper The first prize will be either a pocket knife or a set of embroidery threads or paint brushes, and the neatest prize a patent pencil.

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