SOME PESTS 107 



assistance to man, in respect that it destroys 

 aphides or blight. It emits a drop of brown 

 fluid, when taken in the hand, and this used 

 to have a high repute as a cure for toothache. 

 The reputation of this specific probably rested 

 upon the general principle of old wives' 

 nostrums, that whatever is nasty must be 

 good, and the nastier the better. 



Along with the beetles one naturally 

 considers the Orthoptera, or Straight-winged 

 insects. These are no favourites. With a 

 few exceptions they have neither beauty 

 of form nor colour, and many of them are 

 highly destructive or disagreeable. What- 

 ever beautiful or extraordinary forms there 

 are amongst them, are limited to warm 

 climates, where they are very common. Our 

 British species are almost invariably plain, 

 not to say ugly. They are, however, familiar 

 enough some only too familiar. The locust, 

 for example, is such a scourge in the lands 

 where it abounds, that it has been deemed 

 the appointed agent to execute the divine 

 wrath upon erring mortals. The cockroaches, 

 which swarm in our kitchens and bakehouses 

 are amongst the pests of civilization! 



