INSECT HONOURED

Taranaki Daily News, 30 March 1935, Page 22 (Supplement)

INSECT HONOURED

HALL FOR A CATERPILLAR. ENEMY OF THE PRICKLY PEAR. In Queensland a memorial hall is to b® put up in honour of a caterpillar. This step is justified by the caterpillar’s services to the State, for it feeds on the prickly pear. ■ The prickly pear was introduced . into Queensland through an enthusiastic horticulturist who admired the plant, and there is a story that a gardener was reprimanded for not watering it. But when this thriving cactus escaped from eflicMi eoro and took to the land it

found its surroundings so stimulating that it spread over millions of acres, and for 30 years all attempts to eradicate it by poisonous sprays only served to drive it to new pastures. Other means were tried, including plant parasites, but the caterpillar which feeds on it has been more successful than the rest. The-two halves of this story carry a warning. The prickly pear flourished because the place was so well suited to it. The caterpillar thrives because it likes the abundance of the prickly pear. But a time may come when this newcomer will have multiplied to an extent calling for new measures of restraint. The memorial hall may then serve as a research station for getting rid of it. Every measure which interferes with the balance of Nature has its dangers.