184 TRAITS OF APHIS CHARACTER. 



the sweet vital juices of the tree : the old and the young being 

 thus employed together, parents with their offspring, to whom 

 this soft down serves the purpose of a cradle. This "lani- 

 gerous vesture/' says Mr. Knapp,"* " serves not only to convey 

 the creature from tree to tree throughout the orchard, but 

 also, in autumn winds, becomes a vehicle for its destruction, 

 many being borne away by their fleeces to perish far from their 

 parent stem. Those which arc left to abide the winter an 

 protected from its rigour portly by torpor, and partly by a short 

 downy cloathing witli which their bodies are invested, under 

 the long one before described." 



Let us conclude our "Article on Aphides'- with a few 

 distinguishing traits of their personal character and peculiar 

 physiology. "Character ! (SMV you) what scope for the display 

 of character in a little denizen whose world is comprised in a 

 single leaf or flower-bud who is born but to eat and be 



o 



eaten?' \Vliv, it is with reference to the latter point, that 

 very law of its existence which condemns it to be eaten, that 

 our little Aphis exhibits a notable pattern in the virtue of 

 passive endurance and submission to the decrees of fate. 

 Never did Turk bend his neck to the bow-string or rush upon 

 the scimitar with more perfect composure and nonchalance, 

 than does our lamb of the leaf submit itself to the murderous 

 jaws of its lion-like or wolf-like destroyers, seeming perfectly 

 at ease, and enjoying life to the last bite or sup, while its 



* Journal of a Naturalist. 



