CHAPTER XIII 



APHIS HERDS AND ANT ASSOCIATES 



A PHIDES are the alien insects with which ants have 

 J\. the most intimate relations. The manner in which 

 ants search out, attend, protect, and domesticate these 

 creatures need not here be repeated ; l but as these con- 

 sociated relations are so widely and popularly known, it 

 seems well to distinguish them from other ant guests 

 and associates by a more detailed description than could 

 be given to other myrmecophiles. 



The aphides, or plant-lice, belong to the order Hemip- 

 tera and the sub-order Homoptera, including such in- 

 sects as cicadas, or harvest flies, and the bark-lice. They 

 range from small to exceedingly minute, but make up 

 in numbers what they lack in size, and include some of 

 the most destructive pests known to the agriculturalist 

 and horticulturist. They are soft-bodied and gregarious, 

 and most numerous in the wingless forms. The eyes 

 are usually quite large and of a dark color, and the 

 antennae of many species long and threadlike. The 

 beak is two or three jointed, and in some cases as long as 

 or longer than the body. In the leaf-feeding species 

 the legs are rather long and slender. In the root-feeding 

 and gall-inhabiting forms the legs are short and stout. 



1 See Nature's Craftsmen, chap. iii. 

 243 



