279 
feed. These specimens apparently belong to the species, GryT 
lus testaceus. _ ? 
The animal is about an inch long. The head is broad and 
rounded, with lafge eyes, the antennae very short, £-inch long, 
the palpi as long. Thorax broad, abdomen thick, about J-inch 
across, wings |-inch long, dark brown with numerous cross nerves, 
the hind wings prolonged into long points. The legs semi-trans- 
parent brown, first two pairs comparatively short f -inch, hinder 
le ’S very long i|-inch, the first joint broad and stout, the second 
covered with strong thorns. The ovipositor is one inch long, 
slender, slightly curved, dilated at the tip. Two processes half 
an inch long project from the tail. 
Few classes of insect pests are more difficult to deal with than 
crickets, living concealed all day in holes in the ground, they are 
difficult to find, and as they are often very voracious may do a 
great deal of harm in one night. It is however in the nursery 
beds that crickets are most destructive. They seldom ever do 
harm to trees which have grown two or three feet tall. If they 
are abundant in the field, it will be safer to defer planting out 
very young plants, and to wait till they are old enough to with- 
stand the attacks of the crickets. Near the nurseries, rubbish 
and old logs in and under which these insects conceal themselves 
should be destroyed, and grass and bushes cut back. Flooding 
the ground so as to drown then out of their holes might be tried 
in serious cases, but as a rule keeping the ground Ciean of any 
rubbish will be sufficient to protect nursery beds. 
Neuroptera. 
ft 
Termites . — Termites or white ants as they are popularly called 
belong to the order Neuroptera, and have nothing to do with the 
true ants {Hymenoptera) . They are exceedingly troublesome 
in many ways to the planter, and are often accused of destroy- 
ing living plants directly by devouring the roots. Remarks on 
this action here have already been published in a previous bulle- 
tin, No. 2, p. 78. The question has been raised again lately in 
the Agricultural Ledger No. 18 of 1897, whdre a note from the 
Settlement Officer of Balaghat as to Mango saplings being at- 
tacked by white ants is printed. The Officer in question lost a 
number of saplings, and on investigation, found an apparently 
otherwise healthy tree with the roots eaten through in places 
“and a detachment of the voracious termites was actually push 
ing its way up the heart of the sapling eating its way through 
perfectly good juicy wood.” Unfortunately no attempt seems 
to have been made to identify the species. The number of 
different species of termites is probably exceedingly large, and 
the group has been but little studied by any one except Dr. Ha- 
viland, whose paper (Journal, Linn. Soc. pp. 358 to 442) is the 
only one of any importance dealing with the Asiatic species. 
As might be expected the habits of the different kinds are very 
varied and whereas some kinds may and indeed do attack 
