28 



HALF HOtlRS WITH INSECTS. 



[Packard. 



Fig. 17. 



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CO 



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vn 



Hi 



Salt on sandy soils is considered to be efficacious, but not 

 on heavier clay lands. In a garden or small field they may 

 be got rid of by strewing about slices of potato, turnip 

 or apple, and examining the under sides every morning, 

 v.'hen numbers AVill usually be found feeding upon the bait. 

 Fig. iG. Moles are very useful in destrojdng them in 



meadows, and a large number of 

 our small birds devour them with 

 avidity ; ducks, turke3's and fowls 

 will pick them up in ploughed 

 fields, and toads are not averse to 

 making a meal upon them. Our 

 advice then is, break up and fallow 

 the infested wheatfields, ploughing 

 often, and burning up the rub- 

 bish ; and encourage in every wa}' 

 the farmer's best friends, the small 

 birds. Make it an absolute law 

 of the household that not one of 

 Fire Fly. them is to be shot or stoned, get 



your neighbors to do the same, and believe us, not many 

 years will pass before you will find your insect plagues enor- 

 mously diminished." The concluding remarks apply with 

 much force in dealing with all our noxious insects. 



The May Beetle. — (Fig. 18, larva, pupa and beetle, after 

 Riley.) Our readers may recognize old acquaintances in 

 the insects here figured. The grub or white worm is abun- 

 dant in gardens, lawns and grass lands, and the parent 

 beetle or Dor-bug is the insect which so pertinaciously taps 

 against our windows at night, and if successful in effecting 

 an entrance, wheels its "droning flight" about the room to 

 the terror and confusion of those within. The grub is a 

 large, soft-bodied, flesh}^, Avliite worm, as thick as the little 

 finger, about an inch and a half long, with a honey -yellowish 

 or pale horn-colored head. Its skin is so thin and trans- 



28 



Luminous 

 Wire Worm 



