114 BRITISH ORTHOPTERA. 



in a house at Bognor, Sussex, and supposed to have been 

 imported from Madeira in bananas. One would gather from 

 this that the date of first appearance of L. surinamensis in 

 Britain was just prior to 1897. Reference, however, to Professor 

 Westwood's "Economic Cabinets " in the Hope Museum at 

 Oxford carries the date back at least to 1868. Specimens 

 there are credited with eating plants and stove fruits in house 

 (April, 1868) and destroying orchids (March, 1869). In 

 WestwoocFs Economic Collection there are also some undated 

 specimens accompanied by the following interesting letter : 



GENTLEMEN, 



I herewith enclose for your inspection two species of Beetles which 

 .are most pernicious to Pines. 



They first attack them when in bloom, gnawing the flowers to such 

 an extent that causes great deformity in the Fruit, which, when 

 commenced ripening, they burrow holes in, so that frequently before 

 the fruit is quite colored the better half of it is consumed. 



I have been battling with these pests for the last five years, and 

 trying to exterminate them but, am sorry to say, the more I fight the 

 stronger they seem to get, as they breed at a most inconceivable rate in 

 the plunging material which is composed of tan and leaves. 



I have employed Phosphorus but to no purpose, and latterly have 

 laid traps for them in the following manner. 



I get a lot of three inch pots and place in each a slice of carrot then 

 half fill the pots with moulded [? mouldy] hay and place them between 

 the pines then at night go round with a pail of hot water and pour 

 the contents of each trap into it, and have in this manner destroyed 

 tens of thousands and yet at this moment the plunging material is 

 literally alive with them. 



Would you kindly give me the names of the species as I have never 

 met with such before, and also advise what means I can adopt for 

 getting rid of such formidable pests. 



I am, Gentlemen, 



Your obed t- serv*- 



R. W. 



[Sent to the Editors of the ' Gardener's Chronicle/ who presumably 

 sent it on to Professor Westwood. At the meeting of the Entomological 

 Society of London on 5 April 1869 Westwood exhibited Blatta inelano- 

 cephala (presumably = L. surinamensis) as having been found destructive 

 in orchid-houses in this country. No doubt the exhibit consisted of 

 some of the examples at present in his Economic Collection.] 



In 1897 (15 Apr.) I received two an imago and a nymph 

 -taken in the tropical propagating pits in Kew Gardens, and 

 in 1898 (9 June) I received another nymph from Kew, found 

 in cocoa-nut fibre in one of the tropical houses. Nymphs 

 cannot always be identified with absolute certainty but there 

 appeared to be no doubt in thesp cases. No further notices 

 of the insect appeared for a few years, but on 17 October 

 1904 it was exhibited at the meeting of the Lancashire and 

 Cheshire Entomological Society. Four insects, it appears, 



