1 08 Cane Fly of Grenada. 



each of these punctures from five to fifteen eggs are de- 

 posited; and each egg is placed transversely with respect to 

 the direction of the fibre of the cane, which serves to overlap 

 them, and thus afford a protection from the many enemies 

 they have among the insect race. The aperture is then 

 covered by a very light substance resembling that which 

 protects the eggs and young of various species of spider 

 (/iranea). This substance is always observed to be attached 

 to the posterior part of the body of the insect, and to cover 

 the two spines placed there, and which are characteristic of 

 the genus. When the insect appears on the surface of the 

 leaf after its first transformation, it seems dull and inactive, 

 and is generally covered with a light floss of the substance 

 already mentioned ; but having changed its skin, which it 

 leaves perfect and attached to the leaf, it becomes lively, 

 active, and voracious, and joins in the work of propagation 

 and destruction. , yd jon 



There can be no doubt, or at most but little, that the 

 A'phides do not select the sugar cane merely as a medium 

 for the deposition of their eggs, but that, like millions of 

 other creatures, they also regale themselves with its sweets, 

 and, from their numbers, literally bleed the plant to death. 

 The A 'phis sacchari, for such it ought to be called according 

 to Linnaean nomenclature, like most of the tribe, produces in 

 great abundance the substance called honey-dew, so much so, 

 that the upper surface of the leaf infected is covered over 

 with it. This substance, when dry, becomes black and of a 

 light texture, which, being nearly insoluble in water, destroys 

 or interrupts the action ; of the atmosphere, and aids in the 

 g&f er#jl (Jj^fjuction of the plant./ kuoJiulum dviift oi alnsqc/B 



This destructive insect, which might have, at first, been 

 easily exterminated, has now overrun a great part of this 

 island, and has baffled every attempt made to destroy its 

 countless offspring. There is no doubt that, although they 

 are new in this colony, they must have been known in many 

 other parts of our tropical regions ; and information on this 

 point and on any other point of the subject will be much 

 valued. Accompanying this, I send you specimens of the 

 full-grown insect, with a specimen of the diseased leaf, and a 

 magnified sketch (Jig. 54. b) of the insect, in case of the loss 

 ofetbfti^s^its.^/ Although this species of the A s phis gene- 

 rally confines itself to the sugar cane (Saccharum officina- 

 rum L.), like as other species of A N phis severally addict; 

 themselves to distinct species of plants, yet it may be worthy 

 of notice that I have found it on the Paspalum distichum L., 

 a grass of so opposite a nature, that it has here obtained the 



