34 Insect Life : Its Why and Wherefore 
programme over again as the autumn 
chill warns him that time, like himself, 
has wings. I am afraid that next time 
you look at Mr. Daddy-Long-Legs after 
reading this you will not feel that he is 
quite as innocent as he looks, and you 
will think of his wicked offspring, the 
leather-jackets. 
There is no cloaking or veiling the 
mischief these grubs do. As I write I 
have before me reports of havoc wrought 
among fields of corn, grass, clover, sanfoin, 
peas, beans, etc., etc., besides numberless 
valuable garden crops. Many acres of 
rich pasture land have been hopelessly 
ruined by these little tyrants, sometimes 
in low-lying country appearing in places in 
such myriads as to do damage that one can 
only compare to that done by a plague of 
locusts, except that they confine themselves 
to that which they can get at in close 
proximity to the soil. These little grubs 
are not much affected by intense cold, 
for when hard frost takes hold of the surface 
of the ground, they only go further down. 
Possibly, of the daddy-long-legs itself, in 
natural form, we shall learn more with the 
