27 o FARM AND GARDEN 



or fruit have turned sour. The fly, which is under one-eighth of an inch long, is brick- 

 red on the head, breast, and legs, and black with yellow bands on the abdomen. 



Yet another group of insects only too frequent in human habita- 

 Fleas etc ox «/ j. 



tions are the fleas, which are wingless. Their larvas, which change 



into pup;e in a silky tissue, live in crevices of floors, or wherever decaying matter, 



dust or manure, has accumulated. After eleven days the pupse develop into 



fleas, the entire metamorphosis lasting four weeks. The human flea (Pulex 



i/rritans) is too familiar an insect to need description. Far more repulsive is the 



l>ed-bug (( 'i nw.r I, 'tin In rins). which belongs to another order, the Khvnchota. This 



pestilent insect, which was known to the ancient Romans and Greeks, is reported 



to have come from India; and is stated to have been introduced into London in 



the bedsteads of the fugitive Huguenots, since which date it has spread all over 



the world. Four times a year, in March, May, July, and September, it deposits 



crt,T 



: ill- i RICKET. 



about fifty cylindrical eggs in the narrowesl crevices it can find, especially in bed- 

 steads. It is fully grown and capable of propagation in eleven weeks, and those 

 individuals not of the September brood, which always perishes, sun ive the winter, 

 being capable of standing considerable cold. Although its nutriment is principally 

 the blood of warm-blooded animals, including birds, particularly pigeons, this hug 

 is able to subsist on other fluids, or even to go without food for six months or 

 more, so that its destruction is difficult. 



cricket and The group of Orthoptera includes a considerable number of 



cockroaches, household-pests, among them being the cricket (Gryllus domeqticus), 

 which dwells only in warm places, such as kitchens and bakehouses, where 

 it feeds on bread, flour, corn, and such-like. The male, so often heard chirping 

 at night, is yellowish grey, spotted on the head and breast with dark brown. 

 The German cockroach (Phyllodromia germanica) haunts cellars and kitchens 

 all over Europe, and is sometimes met with in forests. This insect was 

 introduced into Russia during the Seven Years' War, whence it was carried into 



