192 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



Insects, male and female, at the bottom of each, the holes being now 

 some 2£ to 3 feet deep and very winding. The Insects at this period 

 feed voraciously, and continue to do so for a month. In November 

 they die off, the female probably first laying her eggs in soft patches 

 of soil in the ground. This cricket has been reported as injurious to 

 young tea plants in Bengal, Assam and elsewhere, cutting off the young 

 plants level with the ground. 



. Remedies. — All soft patches of soil should be carefully and deeply 

 ploughed or hoed up so as to kill off the eggs by exposing them at the 

 surface. When an attack has been discovered in progress, small boys 

 should at once be put on to dig up each hole and kill the insect at the 

 bottom. This will be found to be a cheap and effectual method of 

 getting rid of the pest, which, if left alone, will do an immense amount 

 of injury. Being a large-bodied insect, some 2| inches long, it is 

 capable of consuming during its life a considerable amount of green 

 food material. 



Useful Orthoptera. 

 The number of Orthoptera known to be of use to man is a small one. 

 The Mtwtidce may be said to be useful to a certain extent, in that they 

 destroy insects of all kinds, and in their larval stages in some cases they 

 probably feed largely upon Aphidce. As I have mentioned in my notes 

 under that family, the For find idee, in spite of the bad reputation they 

 have amongst gardeners as being injurious to vegetation, are much 

 more likely to be of use, since many are undoubtedly predacious upon 

 larvae, small snails, &c, which live upon plants. 



( To be continued.) 



