52 



PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



disagreeableness of its mere i)reseiice, it has no objectionable conse- 

 quences. This mite is somewhat allied to the common red mite of 

 greenhouses, and in fact has a similar habit, but lives out of doors on 

 vegetation and has a decided preference for clover, whence its common 

 name of clover mite. It occurs very commonly in the Northern and 

 Central States from Massachusetts to California, and is fiequently 

 abundant on various orchard and shade trees. In the mountain ranges 

 of the Pacific Coast its eggs have been found in enormous numbers on 

 the bark of various mountain trees, especially the cottonwood {Populiis 

 tremuloides). These eggs are often massed two or three layers deep, 



and their reddish color entirely obscures 

 the natural color of the bark. One writer 

 states that he found at least 50 square feet 

 of these eggs on the south sides of the 

 trunks of cottonwoods at an elevation of 

 G,000 to 8,000 feet. In the Eastern and 

 Central States the eggs are found similarly 

 placed in the crotches of orchard and shade 

 trees, and frequently in sufficient numbers 

 to give a reddish color to small areas. 

 Complaints of this mite have been received 

 from a great many sources in the Middle 

 and Eastern States. That they are a nui- 

 sance in houses is due to their habit of 

 migrating in the fall, possibly for shelter 

 or in search of food. In the case of house 

 invasions the mites will almost invariably 

 be found to have come from some near-by vegetation, usually from the 

 surrounding lawns. After they have once gained entrance they may 

 be exterminated by a liberal and abundant use of insect powders, fumi- 

 gating with burning brimstone, or spraying with benzine, care being 

 taken, if the latter substance be used, to see that no fire is present. If 

 the invasion be discovered at the very outset, it may be stopped by 

 spraying the sides of the house very liberally with kerosene or by treat- 

 ing the surrounding lawns with a spray of kerosene emulsion. 



C. L. M. 



Fig. 19.— Bryohia pratensis: Newly- 

 hatched larva — greatly enlarged 

 (from Riley and Marlatt). 



THE HOUSE CRICKET. 



{Gryllus domesliciis Linu.) 



No insect inhabitants of dwellings are better known than the domestic 

 or hearth crickets, not so much from observation of the insects them- 

 selves as from familiarity with their vibrant, shrilling song notes, 

 which, while thoroughly inharmonious in themselves, are, partly from 

 the difficulty in locating the songster, often given a superstitious sig- 

 nificance and taken, according to the mood of the listener, to be either 



