THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 259 
have found their way into all our advertising columns and 
wrappers; yet year after year the plague seems to increase 
and spread. 
My object in penning these notes is to bring the creature 
face to face with his victims,—those who, in ae west and 
south-west of England, annually lose their pears and their 
perry through the instrumentality of these insects ; for unless 
we know our enemy—his appearance, his ways, and his 
whereabouts—all our attempts to compass his destruction 
must be futile. We have all heard of the nocturnal slaughter 
of sheep in Algeria, and of the cunning devices to eradicate 
the enemy, to stamp out the aggressor, and thus allow the 
persecuted sheep a respite. Large sums were raised, fertile 
brains were worked, and engines of all forms and on all 
principles were constructed, with a view to compass his 
destruction; nothing was omitted that ingenuity could 
suggest, valour inspire, or wealth procure. One thing, how- 
ever, was forgotten; and that was to identify the ovicide. 
No one had deigned to inquire what particular beast, bird, or 
reptile, evinced this kleptomania for mutton ; so that lion and 
leopard, byzna and jackal, vulture and eagle, shared the 
opprobrium about equally among them; until the hunters, on 
going the round of the traps at early dawn, found a party of 
Bedouins squatting on their heels, with mutton on their 
knees, mutton between their fingers, and abundant evidence 
of mutton slaughter and mutton cookery unmistakably around 
them. Then came a revulsion of feeling; then the tide of 
subtle strategy and impetuous bravery was diverted into 
another channel. Even before accident supplied me with this 
apt illustration of my theme, I had arrived at the conviction 
that it is desirable to ascertain your enemy before “ trying 
conclusions” with him; and it is in this spirit that L invite 
attention to the life-history of the pear-tree slug. 
And here let me state in limine that the earliest, best, most 
complete, and most accurate account of this objectionable 
insect was written by Professor Peck, and was printed at 
Boston, U.S., at the very end of last century, by order of the 
Massachusetts Agricultural Society. This body awarded fifty 
guineas and a gold medal for the memoir, which it is now 
difficult or impossible to procure. Dr. Harris, however, one 
of the most eminent of American entomologists, has given us 
