THROUGH WATERBERG. 



89 



America, it was first observed in the Botanic Gardens 

 at Cape Town in 1873, and has since spread over nearly 

 all South Africa, this scale-insect being now too 

 frequently seen in the Transvaal. It specially attacks 

 the orange-tree, which in the high Transvaal is the 

 only really eatable fruit to be obtained, and hence its 

 arrival and depreciations are the more to be regretted. 

 This Coccid* in time may prove as serious a trouble 

 to the arboriculturist as the prevalent lung-disease 

 already is to the cattle-farmer and the horse-keeper. 

 Man's development of this country is a long struggle 

 with the different forces and agents of Nature ; if his 

 cattle survive the sickness in the Transvaal they will 

 not conquer the little Tsetse-fly (Ghssina morsitans) of 

 the interior ; heavy rains and floods destroy his crops, 

 and the scale-insect attacks his trees ; in the rich low- 

 lands, where the most luxuriant crops can be produced, 

 malarial fever dwells ; in the townships of the healthy 

 highlands defective drainage is attended by malignant 

 typhoid epidemic. Man's greatest happiness is living 

 in conformity with Nature's laws, his greatest intel- 

 lectual achievement has been in conquering and utilizing 

 her forces. Dynamite is a progressive power in the 

 Transvaal, and is an invincible force in hewing the 

 railway-track through the quartzite rocks, constructing 

 roads across adamantine defiles, or blasting the gold- 

 bearing reefs. The boom of its explosion is a sound 

 often heard, always denoting industrial enterprise ; and 

 the word dynamite had a strange significance in my 

 ears in this land as I observed its destructive force 

 utilized for constructive purposes, and remembered its 

 felonious notoriety in London a few years previously. 



* To those who would consult the literature relating- to this insect, its 

 life-history, and the proposed preventive measures against its attacks, maybj 

 recommended the following- works : ' Report of Prof. C. V. Riley, Ento- 

 mologist of U.S.A., for 1886,' Washington, pp. 4(16-492 ; ' Insects Noxious 

 to Agriculture in New Zealand. The Scale Insects (Coccididte) ,' by W. M. 

 Marshall, 1887 ; Report by Mr. Roland Trim 'n Government Notice (Blue 

 Book) No. 113, 1877 ; and lastly, the excellent resume on the subject by 

 Miss Eleanor A. Ornierod in her 'Injurious Farm and Fruit Insects of 

 South Africa.' 



