DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS.
(To THE EDITOR or VHS " SercraTorC1
Sin,—The answer to your correspondent "Amateur Gardener" is that the adult form of the common wireworm is the skipjack beetle. Agriotes lineal so; but it should be recognised that not all kinds of so-called wireworms are destructive, some of them being carnivorous. A list of names of destructive insects, such as your correspondent suggests, would have little value, the real diffi- culty being to know what particular insects are denoted by such names. While we all know the clothes moth to be a destructive pest, it is certain that not one person in a thousand can rightly apply even that most familiar of names amongst a hundred species which frequent our rooms in these summer days. It seems to be insufficiently known that guidance in this matter is one of the many important functions still fulfilled by the Natural History Museum, where there is a gallery specially devoted to the display of the most important of the gardener's insect friends and foes in their different stages, with advice as to their treatment. This series is now undergoing revision with a view to making it of the maximum value to the largely increased number of cultivators to whom it is easily accessible.—! am, Sir, de., Onager J. Anaow, F.E.S.
British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W.
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