A MONUMENT TO AN INSECT.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13166, 27 January 1936, Page 7

A MONUMENT TO AN INSECT.

THE VALIANT WORK OF THE CA( TOBLASTIS. Rrobnl.lv the first time in the world that an insect has had a. memorial erected in its honour is at the town of Chinchilla (Queensland), where a new hall, called the Cac-to lllastis Memorial Hall, has been built in honour of the famous prickly-pear-eating caterpillar (Cactoblastis cacatorum). This insect has been responsible for eradicating the prickly-pear pest from thousands of acres ol valuable land in the Chinchilla district, as well as in other parts of Australia. In fact, it is claimed that hut lor this caterpillar the pricklv-pear pest would have in time covered the whole of Australia. The caterpillar was discovered in Argentine (South America) about ten, years ago, and a number of the insects were brought to Australia. When these were acclimatised a breeding station was established in Queensland, and from there countless billions of the c-atorpillars have been distributed in the pea r-intested country. The success in Australia with the insect has led other countries. including Africa, India and the, United States, to adopt a similar method of destroying their prick Iy-pear pest. This interesting "jiaragraph comes from “The New Lien,” the threepenny weekly claper for Australian and New- Zealand women. Reading matter of all kinds, paragraphs, short stories and articles is a feature of this paper. In addition, a free- paper pattern is enclosed in each copy.