THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 259 



have found their way into all our advertising columns and 

 wrappers; yet year after year the plague seems to increase 

 and spread. 



My object in penning these notes is to bring the creature 

 face to face with his victims, — those who, in the west and 

 south-west of England, annually lose their pears and their 

 perry through the instrumentality of these insects ; for unless 

 we know our enemy — his appearance, his ways, and his 

 whereabouts — all our attempts to compass his destruction 

 must be futile. We have all heard of the nocturnal slaughter 

 of sheep in Algeria, and of the cunning devices to eradicate 

 the enemy, to stamp out the aggressor, and thus allow the 

 persecuted sheep a respite. Large sums were raised, fertile 

 brains were worked, and engines of all forms and on all 

 principles were constructed, with a view to compass his 

 destruction ; nothing was omitted that ingenuity could 

 suggest, valour inspire, or wealth procure. One thing, how- 

 ever, was forgotten ; and that was to identify the ovicide. 

 No one had deigned to inquire what particular beast, bird, or 

 reptile, evinced this kleptomania for mutton ; so that lion and 

 leopard, hyaena and jackal, vulture and eagle, shared the 

 opprobrium about equally among them ; until the hunters, on 

 going the round of the traps at early dawn, found a party of 

 Bedouins squatting on their heels, with mutton on their 

 knees, mutton between their fingers, and abundant evidence 

 of mutton slaughter and mutton cookery unmistakably around 

 them. Then came a revulsion of feeling; then the tide of 

 subtle strategy and impetuous bravery was diverted into 

 another channel. Even before accident supplied me with this 

 apt illustration of my theme, I had arrived at the conviction 

 that it is desirable to ascertain your enemy before " trying 

 conclusions" with him ; and it is in this spirit that I invite 

 attention to the life-history of the pear-tree slug. 



And here let me state in limine that the earliest, best, most 

 complete, and most accurate account of this objectionable 

 insect was written by Professor Peck, and_ was printed at 

 Boston, U.S., at the very end of last century, by order of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Society. This body awarded fifty 

 guineas and a gold medal for the memoir, which it is now 

 difficult or impossible to procure. Dr. Harris, however, one 

 of the most eminent of American entomologists, has given us 



