236 SWARM OP MINUTE INSECTS. 



pies of animation, from man to the mollusca, " from the dust of the 

 earth." But in the present instance the phenomenon assumes not a 

 less interesting, but a somewhat more alarming, aspect, when it is 

 ascertained that the mighty mass, for it was all one and the same, 

 not only in genus but in species, was composed of a family of in- 

 sects which, if unchecked and unlimited in their ravages, would 

 produce a desolation in our woods and forests, fruits and flowers, 

 more fatally and permanently destructive than any Egyptian plague 

 on record. For be it known that these countless myriads were 

 neither more or less than the representative body of a formidable and 

 fearful blight ; against which, where it once obtains firm footing, 

 human means have hitherto been found useless and unavailing. 



The insect belonged to the class Hemiptera, and to the genus 

 Aphis, commonly known by the name of Plant Louse, and familiar 

 to all, on the rose trees, as those small wingless insects, which clus- 

 ter together on the stems, usually just beneath the bud or the flow- 

 ers, and on the larch, apple, and many other fruit trees, as the dow- 

 ny, soft clammy mites, which abound more or less, according to the 

 prevailing character of the season. There are about one hundred 

 known genera of this pestiferous breed, of which about fifty, we are 

 sorry to say, have found a legitimate place, as indigenous or natural- 

 ized (for some of the worst have been imported from America or 

 elsewhere) in Great Britain. The species which has led to these 

 remarks, by its abrupt and multitudinous intrusion, is a beautiful 

 subject for microscopic examination when exposed to strong solar 

 light, for otherwise they appear to be nearly black. The wings, 

 four in number, were perfectly transparent, rather irridescent, and 

 with few reticulations. The head and thorax black, the metotho- 

 racic scutum marked with two bright orange bands. The eyes 

 globular and prominent. The antennae filiform, or of equal thick- 

 ness, consisting of eight or nine articulations, the terminal one ra- 

 ther attenuating at the point. From the jaws a proboscis project- 

 ed, which bent down so closely as to be nearly hidden under the 

 thorax, and was not easily seen. The legs were six in number, of 

 a tawny colour, with the exception of the thicker part of the tibia, 

 which was black ; the remainder of the tibia, and the whole of the 

 tarsus being also semi-transparent ; the latter was also partially 

 furnished with short bristles ; at the extremity of the abdomen was 

 a short tubular horn ; the colour of the abdomen was of a pale 

 yellowish green and black, in lateral stripes. — Without very correct 

 plates, or cabinets of reference, it would be hazardous to assign 

 the exact specific name, but in description, it allied itself so nearly, 



