102 INSECT PESTS 



In addition to the Garden Snail, there is the Wood 

 Snail, which appears early in the spring, and is harmful 

 to clover and pasture ; the Strawberry Snail, scarcely 

 I inch long, and troublesome to strawberry beds and in 

 the flower garden, and the Banded Snail, with a conical 

 shell, white with purple-brown stripe, a nuisance on 

 hillsides and near the sea. 



Snails are more honest in their depredations than 

 Slugs, as they feed above ground and are nearly always 

 visible. As a consequence their control is a much easier 

 matter than that of Slugs. (See Plate 22.) 



Where crops are suffering from either snails or slugs 

 a dressing of lime and soot should be given. Powdered 

 alum will Idll them, but it is rather too expensive to use 

 except for choice plants. In greenhouses, cotton-wool 

 tied round the stems of pot plants will prevent snails 

 and slugs ascending to gnaw the young shoots. 



Thoroughly foul land may be gaslimed in winter to 

 clear it of Slugs. 



The thrush is the principal natural enemy of Slugs 

 and Snails, being an extremely useful bird in this respect, 

 as also are blackbirds and starlings. Poultry, ducks, 

 water-rats, moles, hedgehogs, frogs and toads, are fond 

 of them, as also is the tortoise, kept as a pet by some 

 gardeners on account of its insect -eating habits. The 

 glow-worm, described later, attacks and devours snails. 

 We have now dealt with most of the injurious creatures 

 found in the soil, which as stated are vegetarian in diet, 

 whether it be the decayed or growing tissues that they 

 feed on. 



Coming to the useful class, these are mainly beetles, 

 who perform all sorts of handy service in connection 

 with the soil and its inhabitants, though we have in addi- 

 tion the Centipedes among the Myriapoda, which may 

 be taken first. Centipedes are at once distinguished 

 from Millipedes, even to the casual observer, by their 

 extreme activity, as with a hundred and one wriggles 



