Household Pests and Their Treatment. 8? 



With a knowledge of the habits of this insect extensive 

 losses need not be sustained. A free use of insect powder about 

 shelves on which books are kept, the injection of coal-oil or 

 creosote in timbers, an occasional use of bisulfid of carbon, are 

 all that is necessary to suppress them. Wooden floors close to 

 the ground are always in danger from them, and should be re- 

 placed with concrete. The insect is naturally an inhabitant of 

 fields and woods, where it lives under logs and stones. 



White ants are remarkable because of their social life, 

 colonies consisting of workers, males and females, which are 

 sterile; of sterile soldiers, males and females, which defend 

 the colony; a very large queen who has discarded her wings; 

 a male who has discarded his wings; and, during the swarm- 

 ing season, many winged males and females. An almost equally 

 remarkable feature of their economy is the presence in their 

 digestive tubes of swarms of singular microscopic Protozoa, 

 which belong to a peculiar family (Trichonymphidae) and are 

 so far as known not found elsewhere on the globe. 



SILVER FISH. 



Most of us have seen at times a flattish silvery insect that 

 runs rapidly over books and papers, or walls, when molested, 

 and quickly conceals itself. It is so extremely fragile and soft- 

 bodied that a mere touch will destroy it, but so quick that it 

 generally escapes. Its scientific name is Lepisma saccharina, 

 and it has the reputation of being fond of starches and sugars, 

 tho the writer has never observed it about either stored 

 sugar or starr-h. The assertion is often made, however, that it 

 damages starched fabrics such as curtains and sometimes eats 

 the starch paste used on wall paper so as to render the latter 

 unsightly. Books are said to be damaged also, the insect being 

 after the starch used by binders, it is thought. Some years ago 

 at Lexington these insects were found in great numbers under 

 the shingles on the sides of the upper story of a cottage from 

 which retreat they invaded rooms, gnawed the wall paper and 

 damaged the surfaces of photographic prints. Careful tests 

 made at the time indicated that they were not feeding on starch. 



