Millipedes. Slugs 



437 



head and a body consisting of well-defined segments^ which 

 is not divided into a thorax and abdomen as in insects. 

 Each segment, except the first four, bears two pairs of 

 legs. They prefer decaying vegetable matter as food but 

 under certain circumstances attack root-crops such as car- 

 rots, beets and potatoes; infest the heads of cauliflower, 

 cabbage and lettuce; attack seed beans, peas; eat holes in 

 the fruit of tomatoes and melons where they touch the 

 ground. 



'No satisfactory method is devised for control under field 

 or garden conditions ; trap the millipedes under boards or 

 slices of potato laid on the ground ; in the greenhouse they 

 may be trapped in the same way or by using lumps of 

 dough sweetened with molasses. Lime or tobacco dust 

 placed around the base of the plants will help to drive 

 them away. 



Slugs. 



Slugs are snail-like creatures that either lack the shell 

 entirely or have it reduced to a thin plate. They do not 

 belong to the insect tril^es. They eat holes in the leaves 

 of lettuce, celery, seedling beans and other vegetables. They 

 often bore into ripening tomatoes. The word " slug " is 

 sometimes used for the soft and slimy larvae of some kinds 

 of insects, as the cherry-slug, and sometimes of the larvse 

 of the potato-beetle; but here the true snail-like slug is 

 intended. 



Methods for the control of slugs that are practicable for 

 all crops have not been fully worked out. On crops such 

 as field beans, where a poison can be safely used, good re- 

 sults may be obtained by spraying with arsenate of lead 

 at the rate of 4 pounds in 100 gals, of water. Slugs may 



