CHAP. MV.l GRASSHOPPERS, CRICKETS AND TERMITES. 130. 



have hatched out ind are found actually doing damage, the only 

 practical method of control is to catch them in bag-nets or hopper- 

 dozei pter XI). Spraying with a stomach-poison is only 



possible in very small are 



Under natural condition-, grasshoppers arc kept in check by 

 various natural enemies of which the most obvious are birds. 

 Mynahs, as tl \cridotheres) implies, are great 



huntei and each bird must destroy dozens of 



these insects every day. Kites and crows also are often 

 ful by feeding on grasshoppers, especially if these latter are present 

 in large numbers, when the birds often make a concerted attack 

 and devour very large quantities of the insects. Birds of this use- 

 ful character are obviouslj invaluable to the farmer. The Blister- 

 beetles, which in their adult state are themselves crop-pests, during 

 their larval stages seek out and attack the egg-masses of grass- 

 hoppers in the soil and destroy them, and these beetles form a very 

 important check on the increase ol grasshoppers in some districts. 

 The endoparasitic enemies of grasshoppers have been little studied 

 in India, but several flies ol various species are known to attack 

 them and destroy them. 



Crickets are of little importance in Southern India except as 

 quite local pests. Those species f Brachytrypes, Gryllotalpa) which 

 do damage to crops differ from grasshoppers by their habit of 

 living in burrows in the soil during the day and only coming out 

 to feed at night. As their attack is often very localized, it is some- 

 times practicable to spray the plants around their burrows with a 

 stomach-poison, but as a rule the simplest plan is toflood them out, 

 where thi> can be done, when they are perforce driven from their 

 burrows to fall a prey to crows and other birds which quickly 

 congregate during all irrigation operations. 



Termites, commonly but incorrectlj called " White Ants." are 

 in nowise related to the true ants, nor are they always white. To 

 the popular imagination there is onlj one kind of " White Ant," 

 which throws up the well-known mounds and attacks indiscrimi- 

 nate d dead w ood, but as a matter ol 

 fact then are numerous different species whose habit- arc entirely 

 distinct. different species occur in Southern India 

 I have found a dozen distinct kinds within the limits of the \ 

 cultural Farm at Coimbatore some of which attack growing crop- 

 and tree.-, others bore into the solid wood of living tret's, others 

 confine their attentions to dead wood and other vegetable matter. 

 whilst yet others feed only on grasses or lichens and are hem 

 little economic importance. It will then en that, when 

 Termites are found to be doing damage, it is first of all necessary 



