14 



that deeply-set plants, of which the growing heart is well 

 underground, escape serious damage even where the beetles are 

 abundant and hungry for food. The beetles eat the exposed 

 part of the plant, which consists of the ends of a few leaves, 

 but do not burrow more than about half-an-inch underground. 

 The general opinion is that. the deeply-set plants grow quite 

 well once a good start has been obtained, and, although in go- 

 ing over a field shortly after planting, half the plants may ap- 

 pear to be missing, a few weeks later the grower may be able 

 to congratulate himself on an excellent stand. Plants of which 

 the heart is above ground are apt to be severed through the 

 stems, and are then of little use, for although a plant may grow 

 up from a sucker, the resulting leaf is likely to be disappointing. 



The use of grass dipped in cutworm poison is efficacious in 

 destroying opatrum, and has been reported to be effective 

 against zophosis. All these beetles are fond of sweets, but the 

 larger species are probably best destroyed by hand if they prove 

 troublesome. Opatrum has a propensity for gathering under 

 heaps of rubbish, and by placing heaps of in- 

 flammable rubbish about the fields, many of the 

 beetles may be destroyed by burning in the earlier part of the 

 dry season. The genera of the beetles figured in the plate, 

 reading from left to right, are psammodes (tok-tokje), anomali- 

 pus, dictha, and zophosis (2 species). 



LARGE CRICKET. This insect is sometimes a troublesome 

 pest of tobacco. It is undoubtedly chiefly associated with this 

 crop because of its preference for light, sandy soils, and not be- 

 cause of any special preference for tobacco. The adult insect 

 is shewn in its natural size in one of the plates. The adult or 

 fully-winged form has been collected from December to March , 

 but immature forms, in which the wings are not fully 

 developed, also do damage. 



The insect's mode of attacking plants is to sever the leaf 

 and drag it to its burrow. In order to get the leaf into its bur- 

 row, it is rolled up in a way that stimulates speculation as to 

 how the operation is performed. The cricket seems to lurk 

 within the rolled leaf in the ground, and can be dug out easily 

 enough inside its self-made house. 



The following poisoned bait is reported to be effective 

 against this pest in the Transvaal : 3 Ibs. bran, green grass or 

 lucerne, J Ib. sugar or treacle, and one dessertspoonful arsenite 



