ENTOMOLOGY 139 



Grasshoppers (or Locusts, as they should be called). These are 

 often very destructive in the later summer months, especially if the 

 weather should be dry and hot. They are general feeders, few kinds 

 of vegetation coming amiss to them when they are numerous and 

 the supply of food at all scanty. Usually they are most abundant in 

 dry pastures and the neighboring grain fields; this is due to the fact 

 that their eggs are laid in grass lands, especially where the soil is dry 

 and sandy, and the young nymphs grow there to maturity. They 

 do not pass through any chrysalis stage, but gradually become bigger 

 after each moult till the full-winged adult state is reached. Many 

 mechanical devices have been employed for their destruction, but 

 the use of these troublesome methods can now be dispensed with 

 since the discovery of the Griddle mixture, a poisoned bait which 

 derives its name from Mr. Norman Griddle, of Aweme, Manitoba, 

 who proved its complete efficiency after a series of experiments. It 

 is made and applied as follows : Take a three-gallon patent pail and 

 fill it with fresh horse droppings, then empty into a barrel; repeat 

 this five times. As each pailful is poured in, mix thoroughly with 

 the manure about a quarter of a pound of Paris green and half a 

 pound of salt which has been dissolved in water. There w r ould thus 

 be used about one pound of Paris green and two pounds of salt to 

 half a barrel of manure. The mixture may be drawn in a cart to 

 the infested places and scattered broadcast with a trowel or wooden 

 paddle. The grasshoppers are attracted to it from considerable dis- 

 tances and are killed in large numbers. It has been found most 

 effective to distribute the mixture on alternate days, a little at a 

 time, rather than to use larger quantities at longer intervals. In 

 the case of grain fields, oats being especially liable to attack, the mix- 

 ture should be thrown into the grain along the sides of the field and 

 the grasshoppers will eat it in preference to anything else. Care 

 should be taken not to allow cattle or poultry to have access to it 



Plant-Bugs. In the American use of the word the name Bug is 

 erroneously applied to insects of every kind to a beautiful butterfly 

 or moth as well as to a disgusting bed-bug. The name, however, 

 when correctly employed denotes insects belonging to the order 

 Hemiptera, which are provided with sucking and not biting mouth- 

 parts, and which do not pass through any quiescent chrysalis stage 

 but are gradually developed from the newly hatched larvas to the 

 winged adult. To the true bugs belong two species which are very 

 abundant in gardens, attacking plants of all descriptions, flowers 

 and vegetables alike. These are the Tarnished and the Four-lined 

 Plant-bugs. 



Tarnished Plant-bug. This is to be found all through the sea- 

 son on plants of almost every kind, sucking the juices of flower buds 

 and foliage and sometimes of the leaves of young fruit trees. The 

 mature insects are oblong in form with a triangular head and promi- 

 nent eyes, and tapering to a rounded angle at the tail. The color 

 is variable, usually grayish brown, marked with yellowish and black 

 dashes, and having a slight bronzy reflection; its length is a little 

 over a quarter of an inch. They are very active insects, taking 



