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are very difficult to deal with. The mole-crickets live in burrows, 
where they devour the roots of various plants and are fearfully 
destructive when they get into nursery beds. They are recog- 
nized by their brown velvety bodies and mole-like digging paws. 
They can be caught at night sitting in the mouths of the bur- 
rows and making a piercing whistling. 
Another destructive group is that of the walking sticks and 
leaf insects both leaf-eaters. Two or more stick insects are very 
destructive to orchids, Calatheas and Sansevieras. Resem- 
bling little pieces of wood or straws and usually concealig them- 
selves during the day time among the roots of these plants, they 
devour the leaves and shoots at night. A very fine leaf -insect, 
exactly resembling the leaf of a mangosteen, was brought in late- 
ly from mangosteen trees which it fed on. 
The well-known Mantis is carnivorous, feeding on other insects, 
and is therefore useful. 
Like other groups, the Neuroptera can be divided into insec- 
tivorous and vegetivorous kinds. The dragon-flies are pre- 
daceous and live on small insects, and turn up often in great 
force, when the Termites (white ants) are swarming, clearing off 
many of these insects. The Termites belong to the same order, 
and are the only injurious insects of this order here. 
The two remaining groups, Thysanura and Collembola, affect 
the planter but little. The Sugar fish, Lepisma, too common in 
houses, belonging to the first order, is a very troublesome little 
beast on account of the way it eats papers into holes. Naptha- 
line will keep it away. The minute Collembola like very small 
lice, would hardly be worth mentioning as affecting planters at 
all, especially as there aie comparatively few here, but consider- 
able suspicion must attach to one species, a very minute white 
insect usually found under stones, Lipura fimetaria. Many 
years ago I found it in immense abundance on a fern in Eng- 
land, which was in a very sick state, and lately Mr. Standen 
brought me from India, among other insects, a quantity of the 
same thing which had been found at the roots of seedling Cin- 
chonas, which were evidently dying from root injury probably 
caused by these little animals. 
The order Myriapoda, Centipedes and Millipedes, is allied to 
the insects and may be mentioned, as there are several of the 
millipedes which seem to be very destructive, notably a cylin- 
drical red one often found in manure, sometimes in quantities. 
It attacks the roots of seedlings especially. The centipedes which 
are distinguished at sight from millipedes in having flat backs 
instead of rounded, and running very fast when disturbed (where- 
as a millipede moves slowly and sometimes curls up when touched 
feed on insects, and I have found a very large centipede killing 
the larva of a coco -nut beetle. 
Dtstiu tion of insects . — In the case of an attack on a planta- 
tion by an insect pest, the first thing to do is to And out the life- 
history of the animal in order to know at what pom in its life it 
is most easily dealt with. Some insects are most easily and eco- 
