CHAPTER V 



SOIL PESTS 



Thysanoura or Bristle Tails — CoUembola or Spring Tails — 

 Myrlapoda — Millipedes — Wireworms and Click Beetles — 

 Leather-jacket or Crane Fly — Snails and Slugs — Cock- 

 chafers — Insects useful to Soil — Bacteria and Earthworms 

 — Beetles — Centipedes. 



THIS chapter need not be an over long one, as we 

 shall find that many of the insect pests which 

 are met with in the soil have been grouped under the 

 particular plants they infest and already treated of else- 

 where. 



Certain insects, however, are manifestly referable to 

 the soil in general, and of these we must now speak. 



Soil insects, to whatever class they belong, may con- 

 veniently be considered under two distinct heads, viz. 

 those which are carnivorous, and those which devour 

 herbage. 



We will take plant-eaters first. Of these it is well 

 again to distinguish between those which merely devour 

 decayed vegetable matter, and those which deliberately 

 attack the living tissues. There are many classes of 

 insects and other creatures which find sustenance on 

 decayed vegetation ; and this function is certainly a 

 useful one, although speaking generally the creatures 

 themselves are of an unpleasant appearance. This last 

 fact has caused the popular prejudice against Spring- 



95 



