W.E.A.

Evening Star, Issue 19659, 12 September 1927, Page 4

W.E.A.

BIOLOGY GLASS On Friday evening last Miss Fyfe took for Tier subject ‘ Well-known Posts.’ Most of our troublesome insect pests have been introduced to this country. Insects constitute a class in the animal kingdom which differs from other invertebrate classes in several ways. One is that their bodies are divided into three separate regions—the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. In the adult they have' six legs. _As a rule, insects pass through a scries of transformations in their lilo history. First the egg. then the larva or grub, then the chysalis or pupa, filially the adult. The insect class is divided into many classes, and our household pests are so varied that wc find representatives from every order. Tho woodhoror is found in timber-built houses, and is noticed by the tiny boles in the wood. Tho white pine borer is an introduced species. It is scarcely l-6in long. Tho larva is whitish in color, and is responsible for the boring. 1 1 ptay ’live for three years before it develops into tho beetle. The New Zealand borer is found in the neighborhood of forests. Tt is very destructive to rimu and Another borer is found in native fuchsia; also oho in tho currant tree and in other shrubs. Tho pit burrowing weevil is l-3in long, and is very destructive to nnm. It has been known to kill trees in a few years. The female burrows a pit, m which it lays its, eggs, which develop m larva', which spread in all directions. The grub of tho common borer is also very fond of miner, and libraries suffer a orcat deal from it. Silvcrfish is 1-Tin long. These arc insects, not fish. Iho skin is very line, and is covered with silver scales which will come ofi when touched. Tho silverfish is very fond of sugar and starch, and is very destructive to bookbindings. It has been known to attack cotton and silk goods on account of the stiffening in them. The silverfish is very low in the scale of insect devclopranet. _ , Another troublesome insect is the earwig. There are six British species, but only one is at all well known. The earwig's wings are very beautiful, and are only used at night. Tho eanu'g has no definite pupa stage. The mother earwig sits ou its cggs._ ihoie aic several varieties of leaf-mining insects, the majority of which arc the larvse of butterflies and moths. Tho eggs are laid on the leaves; the larvm develop and bore right into the heart of tho leaf. Each species makes a. characteristic pattern. If the leaf is badly infested it will die. Tho lecture was illustrated by a number of lantern slides, and afterwards Mis Fyfe answered a number of questions.