CHAPTER XVII, 



FERN FOES, BRITISH AND EXOTIC. 



T may be safely stated that insects specially feeding on Ferns 

 are, as a rule, the outcome of improper culture, or of the 

 uncongenial state of the temperature and atmosphere in which 

 the plants are kept under artificial treatment. Anyone may 

 readily be convinced of the truth of this assertion by observing 

 and studying Ferns in their native habitats, where they are seldom attacked 

 by any insects specially feeding on them. Woodlice, slugs, snails, cock- 

 roaches, and other pests, are, it is true, particularly fond of the young 

 growths, especially those of the kinds of a succulent nature • and caterpillars, 

 and even mice, play sad havoc among their more mature, as well as among 

 their partially- developed, fronds. But the above are all marauders whose 

 depredations are not limited to Ferns, which they attack in common with 

 other plants, running as they do from one to the other, and destroying them 

 indiscriminately as they come in contact with them. These are fiends to be 

 met with in any culture, and among all classes of plants, feeding on nearly 

 all vegetables alike, and can scarcely bear the appellation of "Fern Foes," 

 as intended here for such insects as thrips (Fig. 13), mealy bug (Fig. 14), 

 scales (Figs. 15 and 16), white and green flies, &c. — these select fronds of 

 the Ferns, to which they attach themselves, and on which they remain as 

 long as any nutriment is to be derived from them. But these insects, unlike 

 the pests previously mentioned, are invariably found on plants out of natural 

 conditions, the constitution of which they materially help to weaken. It is 

 not an uncommon occurrence among Ferns grown in a warm-house to find 



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