66 INSECT PESTS 



tails, Woodlice, Pill Insects, and Centipedes. Still, the 

 way to prevent their appearance is perfectly simple. 

 Keep your garden, your holding, and your poultry-run 

 absolutely clean and tidy. To allow rubbish to lie about 

 is to ask for WoodUce : to allow old tools, planks of 

 wood, etc., to lie on the ground and become damp, is 

 to ask for Spring-tails, Beetle larvae, Slugs, Snails, and 

 such creatures, to come in and make themselves at home. 



Everything in and about the gardener's and small- 

 holder's establishment must be " weathered " when kept 

 out of doors to allow unobstructed passage of rain, and 

 prevent accumulation of mud and mould. Indoors, 

 everything should be kept free from dust and damp. 

 Remember that the elements are always trjdng to wear 

 down the works of man, as well as the face of Nature. 



Some people seem to think that a good coat of paint 

 ought to last for ever. At any rate they never give it 

 a second thought, and then wonder why decay sets in, 

 bringing along the creeping things whose status on Nature's 

 Board of Works is simply that of scavenging. A moment's 

 reflection upon, say, the geological fact that the granite 

 cliffs which hold up Niagara are worn away six inches 

 every year (and this has been going on for countless 

 ages) will show how little permanence there is in any- 

 thing that we do, even for our own Hfetimes, unless we 

 are constantly tidying up, and " making good." If 

 this is done, however, scavenger insects will be kept in 

 their true place, in the woods and forests, where Nature's 

 Ufe can go on undisturbed. 



The Thysanoura, or Bristle Tails, are a lowly branch 

 of the Neuroptera, and are apterous or wingless insects, 

 having six legs, as well as the bristle-hke appendages, 

 at both ends of the body, which enable them to leap 

 very well. They undergo no metamorphoses in their 

 development. The common Bristle-tail, which is found 

 in outhouses, in the chinks of sashes which are never 

 opened, under damp boards, or at the backs of ward- 



