654 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



flocks and herds of scale insects on the under surfaces of the 

 leaves. For months their live stock has consisted mainly of hard 

 scale insects ; now they are busy fostering the young of these and 

 bringing forward species of a softer nature. Some of these stock- 

 breeders build their small nests about the roots of plants and thus 

 escape the flood, while those who nest in the bushes seem to have 

 gone a step further in their development. 



At this time also the small black ants are everywhere. They 

 come into the rooms and get upon our dining table, even though 

 its legs are placed in pans of kerosene oil. A chair will provide 

 a suitable gangway, or they will even run over your clothes as 

 you sit at dinner. They even get into our beds, and we wake up 

 at night to find hundreds of these tiny creatures crawling over 

 us and giving vicious bites here and there. Then the baby cries 

 in the next room, and its nurse wakes up to find the little pests 

 running over its face and sucking the moisture from its eyelids. 

 The child wakes up and rubs the part with his fist, to be rewarded 

 with sundry bites on his delicate skin. Or perhaps one of them 

 has got into his ear, and the child screams with all his might ; 

 then the mother or nurse has much ado with a syringe and oil 

 before silence is again restored. 



Now come the cockroaches. Not that they have ever been 

 entirely wanting, but as long as the weather was dry they could 

 hide under heaps of dead leaves or about the roots of trees in the 

 garden. Routed from these snug quarters, they appear in great 

 numbers, flying into the open sitting rooms, and perhaps making 

 a lady scream out with disgust as one of them sprawls on her 

 dress. Their object is to hide themselves as soon as possible, no 

 matter where, and female drapery is very convenient. Like the 

 ants, these stinking creatures invade our bedrooms, and a new- 

 comer is warned not to sleep with his mouth open, for he might 

 wake to find one exploring the cavity. Those who have lived in 

 the tropics for any length of time can hardly escape tasting the 

 cockroach. Now and then they run over our dishes and leave 

 their taste and smell behind, while occasionally one gets into the 

 flour barrel and spoils your cake or pudding. We have seen bits 

 of their carcasses in our bread, and have had to reject a roll alto- 

 gether from such a cause. 



Now that the ground is well soaked, the wood ants or termites 

 begin to swarm. They fly for a little while, but quickly get rid 

 of their wings, to crawl into the chinks and crannies of the floor, 

 between the covers of books, and in fact everywhere. They litter 

 the tables with their cast-off wings, and if not looked after will 

 do serious damage in a few days. Furniture is bored with holes, 

 books are excavated to provide nests, and the very house itself 

 becomes ultimately little more than a home for wood ants. The 



