uiK >..\ii\i, r.iki>s. 367 



Aphis, if allowed to breed unchecked, would develop 13 j^enera- 

 tious in a single year, and at the end of the 12th generation would 

 have hred an arin\ of ten sextillitjns of a])hi(les. 



]^^)r])ush has worked it out. and says if this uncountal)le arni\ 

 was marshalled in line 10 to the inch, it would extend as far 

 as the great star Sirius. which is so far away that if a man could 

 travel at the rate of light, whicli is 184,000 miles ])er second, the 

 journey from the earth would take him 8.6 years. 



Kirtland. too. has carefully worked out the rate of breeding 

 of the (jyi^sx- -Moth, and states that if a i)air of these moths and 

 their progeny were allcjwed to breed unchecked for eight years, 

 they would strij) the entire United States of America of vegeta- 

 tion. 



A Colorado Ik^etle, or Potato Bug, would, if uncliecked. 

 multiply in one season to the number of 60.000,000. It can thus 

 be realized by even the dullest intellect, that at this rate of multi- 

 plication the Colorado Beetle would ver\ (|uickl\- exterminate 

 the potato plant. 



The Migratory locust, for instance, if allowed to lav its eggs 

 and breed imchecked, would in a few years make farming an 

 impossibility. Aye! it would sweep the entire countrv of vege- 

 tatit)n and convert it into a barren, useless desert. 



The tick is another insect scourge. It is parasitic, and feeds 

 on the blood of animals. It reduces the condition of stock ani- 

 mals more or less seriously, and is an active agent in carrying 

 disease germs from one animal to another. 



The female tick lays from 2,000 to 18,000 eggs, according 

 to the sjjecies. 



If all our tick-eating birds were destroyed and dipijing sus- 

 pended, these terrible i)ests w(udd kill off every stock animal in 

 the country. C^n taking U]) my residence in a hottse at Port 

 Elizabeth surrounded by large grounds and gardens, I was 

 amazed to hnd the place a paradise of insect life. The flowers 

 and vegetables which I i>lanted were com])leteh- eaten oft' before 

 reaching maturity. Prior to my tenancy the house was un- 

 inhabited for two years, and boys had been in the habit of roam- 

 ing at will about the ])remises with cata])ults and air-guns, mur- 

 dering any and every bird they could rtnd. Others searched the 

 bushes for nests, intent on rt)bbing them of their contents. The 

 place became a sanctuary for liirds on niv advent, and within a 

 year the insect army of occupation was annihilated. 



Insects not only breed with astounding and disconcerting 

 rai)idity, but their powers of eating are, if anything, still more 

 amazing. A cater])illar will eat two or three times its own weight 

 of vegetation every day. This, on first thoughts, does not seem 

 so verv astonishing, but if ai)plied, for instance, to a horse, it 

 would mean the animal would recjuire a ton of food every 24 

 hours to satisfy its hunger and i)rovide for its growth. A man 

 weighing i^olbs., eating twice his own weight of food, would 

 need a (laily ration of ^oolbs. 



The ap]ietite of the vegetation-eating caterpillar is. however. 



