On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 10:33:42 +0100, Elizabeth
wrote:

I have some lovely red lillies in a pot, but the leaves are being munched
by
rather odd looking bugs.

They're only on the lillies - haven't touched any of the other plants.
They
have little tiny munching heads attached to long (about half to one
centimetre), swollen orangish bodies. They seem also to be covered in
what
can only be decribed as poo, and leave big (almost the same size as the
bugs) wet lumps of it all over the leaves as well.

When I first noticed them, there was a small red hard-backed beetle
sitting
on one of the leaves too, but this may just have been a coincidence as it
looked nothing like these grubs.

Anyone have any ideas what these might be? I've never seen them before,
but
have had these lillies for a good few years now. As a remedy, I've just
pulled of the leaves they're on and thrown them away, but would love to
know
what on earth they are.

Thanks

Elizabeth


Sound like the larvae of a beetle to me. Very similar to Colorado-beetle
larvae (I'm in Austria, don't panic). I suspect the lily beetle. Is that
what it's called ? The adult looks like this:
http://www.ceris.purdue.edu/napis/gif/llba-p.jpg ? The Larvae look like
this : http://www.forestryimages.org/browse...imgnum=1445005
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse...imgnum=1445007

Gardening which tells you a bit about it.
http://www.which.net/gardeningwhich/...ilybeetle.html

hope this helps.
Tim.