In article .hx,
Kostas Kavoussanakis writes
On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote:

In article .hx,
Kostas Kavoussanakis writes

I was wondering why the new leaves of my giant hollyhocks were full of
holes. I just noticed large (5cm) gray, green and brown caterpillars
on them. Any idea what they are?

I knew I was careless in my description: I have two (one: green; two:
gray), possibly three (brown?) types of caterpillars.

I hope it's only two! My book reckons there's only two species that
attack plants of the mallow family.

Possibly. Caterpillars have big appetites. Can you find some mallow
plants nearby to transfer them to?

Not to my knowledge (not that I would be able to recognise them).

They have similar leaves to hollyhock. They're often covered with orange
spots of rust fungus (though usually later in the year). Unlike most 5
petalled flowers, mallow family flowers have complete spiral symmetry -
each petal is under one neighbour and over the other. And they have a
sort of central tower with the stamens on. But all this is later when
they flower, which is a bit late for you now.

Or you could pick the caterpillars off into a box and put in several
sorts of leaves to see if they'll eat anything else. Or you could just
wait, and if your hollyhocks seem to be losing, pick of the caterpillars
and squash them.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm