THE BUGS, OR SUCKING INSECTS. 



103 



abdomen, a musical apparatus, like a pair of kettle-drums,, 

 by which the shrilling noise is produced. While the lives 

 of most insects span not a year, or two at the most, the 

 seventeen-year Cicada lives over sixteen years as a larva. 

 It is possible that it owes its long life to the fact that it 

 lives anchored by its beak to the rootlets of trees deep in 

 the earth, beyond the reach of its enemies and the severity 

 of the fro it ; hence every seventeen years it appears locally 

 in great numbers in the warmer parts of our country. 



The Aphides or plant-lice, on the other hand, prosper by 

 reason of their wonderful fertility, the young being brought 

 forth alive. There are as many as nine or ten generations ; 



FIG. 111. Apple Aphis. (Natural size and enlarged.) 



a single Aphis becoming the parent in one summer of mil- 

 lions of children and grandchildren. Though they are de- 

 voured in enormous numbers by other insects and by birds, 

 still hosts are left to prey on our fruit-trees, succulent veg- 

 etables, and household plants. Thus, these weak, defence- 

 less creatures owe their success in life to their unusual 

 powers of reproduction, the young budding forth within 

 the parent, as the polyp sends forth bud after bud which 

 eventually become jelly-fish. The last brood of Aphides 

 lays eggs and then dies. 



