180 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



general appearance from the female perfect insects. At the hinder 

 extremity of the body, however, will be found an apparatus with 

 which the creatures are able to remove the slime from their 

 mouths at the end of their snail-feast— a truly marvellous 

 provision of Nature. 



Some of the Pterostichi are amongst the commonest garden 

 insects, and they are exclusively carnivorous. P. madidus, an 

 insect about three-quarters of an inch long, of a deep shiny black, 



and with ovate wing-cases (fig. 

 38), is very abundant. Like the 

 Car abides generally, these insects 

 are night-feeders, and it is only 

 when digging or when removing 

 rubbish that they are brought to 

 light. Another common species is 

 P. vulgaris, found under stones. It 

 is a trifle larger than its last named 

 relative, which in all other respects 

 it resembles. 



The part the Ladybirds play in 

 clearing our gardens of aphides is 

 fairly well known ; but it is much 

 to be feared that the black, slaty- 

 grey larva? as well as the pupa? are 

 often unwittingly destroyed. The 

 latter of course are inactive, but 

 Fig. 39— Musk Beetle the larva? are even more voracious 

 (Aromia moschata). than the perfect insects. 



Time will not admit of my 

 enlarging upon the many beetles which the gardener has to 

 confront in the shape of foes. Moreover, these are more 

 familiar than the friends, and their "funny little ways" are 

 dealt with in most up-to-date horticultural publications. 

 There are one or two, however, about which considerable 

 misconception frequently arises in the minds of the amateur 

 gardener — the wire-worm in particular. Such common and 

 destructive creatures one would naturally think were uni- 

 versally known, but a long connection with a journal dealing 

 largely with gardening matters has shown me that all sorts of 

 animals are confused with the true wire-worms. These are in 



