INSECTS. 51 



INSECTS. 



RCHIDS are liable to be injured by many sorts of 

 insects, such as red spider, thrips, mealy-bug, white 

 and brown scale, woodlice, cockroaches, and a small 

 snail, Helix alliaria. Cockroaches are amgng the greatest 

 plagues we have to deal with ; they will do a great deal of 

 mischief in a few nights if not sought after on every oppor- 

 tunity. The food they like best is the young tender roots and 

 flower stems, and I have seen the roots of a plant completely 

 eaten off in one night by these depredators. The only way 

 to keep these insects under is by constantly looking after them, 

 both by night and day, searching for them in the evening 

 by candle-light, and in the daytime by moving the pots and 

 baskets under which they harbour. They leave their hiding- 

 places in the evening, to seek after food, and it is then that 

 they are most easily caught. Chase's Beetle Poison, a phos- 

 phoric mixture sold in boxes, is a capital thing to destroy 

 them, if laid in different parts of the house in the evening. 

 It should be placed on oyster- shells or pieces of tile or slate, 

 two or three nights a week, and then removed for a week, 

 repeating the operation every other week until they are 

 destroyed. The pieces of shell should be collected every 

 morning, and put down again in the evening. By using this 

 preparation from time to time they may be kept under. It is 

 also a good plan to lay some damp moss as a decoy in the 

 hottest part of the house ; this should be looked over every two 

 or three days. I have killed many in this way. They may 

 also be destroyed by the use of a mixture of honey, lard, and 

 arsenic, the latter in very small quantity, placing some of this 

 on oyster- shells, and laying them in different parts of the house. 



D 2 



