INSECTS, MITES, ETC. 



25.3 



especially of urcliids. They are also not adverse to <k'- 

 vouring seedling plants. Being nocturnal feeders, it is 

 difficult to catch them; besides, they have a habit of con- 

 cealing themselves beneath pots, or anything else they 

 can crawl under or into, directly light is introduced, or as 

 soon as daylight appears. It is hardly necessary to de- 

 scribe them in detail; they are pretty well known. 



Remedies. — Phosphor paste or beetle poison, spread on 

 slices of bread placed about the greenhouse, will generally 

 prove effectual in destroying them. They may be caught 

 in ordinary beetle traps, or in bottles partly filled with 

 beer and water and sunk in the earth ; or in shallow 



[Photo: H. A. Smith. 

 FERN FROND INFESTED WITH BROWN SCALE. 

 The scales can be seen adhering to the midrib. 



vessels containing beer placed under or on the staging. 

 Fresh rhubarb leaves laid about, and a mixture of oatmeal 

 and salt, are said to be efficacious remedies. 



Crickets. — The House Cricket (Gryllus domeisticus) 

 sometimes attacks the roots and young shoots and leaves 

 of greenhouse plants, but cannot be looked upon as a very 

 troublesome pest to the gardener. Like the Cockroach, 

 it is a nocturnal feeder, and hence is never seen by day 



