mulberry bushes, locally known in the silk-districts of Bengal 

 as Tukra. Icerya ^Egyptiacum (Fig. 70 b) caused wholesale 

 destruction of trees in Egypt some years ago, and this insect 

 has been seen on different trees in Calcutta and in Madras. 

 Aspidiotus flavescens (Fig. 70 c) attacks tea-bushes one or 

 two years old and often ruins them entirely. 



1,215. Orthoptera. These have four wings, the anterior 

 ones being narrower than the posterior ones which are usually 

 folded up, and they are leathery rather than horny in their 

 texture. The larvae and pupae are both active. Eggs 

 generally enclosed in a case. The hind legs are usually 

 fashioned for leaping, (i) The commonest example of this 

 order will be found in the Periplaneta orientalis, the ordinary 

 cockroach, belonging to the family Blattidae. (2) To the 

 family Phasmidae belong the stick-insects and leaf-insects, 

 with long slender bodies and legs, some of which are wingless. 

 Some insects of this family are very destructive to cocoanut 

 trees in the South sea Islands, and when alarmed they squirt 

 out a highly acrid fluid which causes blindness if it reaches 

 the eyes. (3) Mantidae are not agricultural pests. They de- 

 vour insects and are helpful to agriculture. They also have 

 slender stick-like bodies. They deposit their eggs in spongy 

 ball-shaped nests. (4) Next come the acrididae (short horned 

 grasshoppers) to which belong the following Indian varieties 

 of migratory and invading locusts : Acridium peregrinum^ 

 Acridium succintum, Acridium melanocorne, Acridium aerugi- 

 nosum, Caloptenus erubescens, C. caliginosus, Cyrtacantha- 

 cris ranacea, Oxya furcifera, Pachytylus cinerescens. To the 

 acrididae belong also non-migratory locusts and grasshoppers 

 of which many are destructive to crops. Crotogonus sp., a 

 small thick-set, brown grasshopper, is destructive to young 

 crops of all kinds as soon as they appear above ground, such 

 as, indigo, kalai, barbati, opium, wheat, barley, linseed, rape- 

 seed, til, bdjrd, &c. Catantops axillaris (Kat-pharing), and 

 Euprepocnemis bramina attack young paddy plants. CEdalus^ 



