82 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



remedy of that most harrowing of pains, the tooth-ache. The learned 

 President of the Entomological Society of Ontario says that he has never 

 possessed sufficient courage to test its qualities himself, but a well-known 

 American brother of the net and bottle tells us that he tried this applica- 

 tion in two instances, and the tooth-ache was immediately relieved ; but 

 he confesses that he was uncertain whether the remedy or the faith of the 

 patient acted therapeutically, or the tooth ceased troubling of itself Let 

 us be charitable and give the benefit of the doubt to the pretty little 

 beetle. 



The Gernians call these insects Marlen-kaefcr. Lady beetles 

 of the Virgin Mary; while in France they have the equally fine names of 

 Vaches de Deice, or Bcfes de la Vicrgc, Cows of the Lord or animals of the 

 Virgin. And they have good claims to be held in such esteem, for they 

 are most beneficial to man in destroying the plant-lice, which, if allowed 

 to go on propagating and increasing unchecked, would soon reduce the 

 most fertile country into a barren and a howling wilderness. Lady-birds 

 both in their perfect and in their larval state, feed on these lice, and, pro- 

 videntially, few trees, plants or shrubs infested by these disgusting and 

 destructive creatures are to be found whereon is not also this antidote for 

 them. The grubs, which are of a flattened shape and darkish color, 

 spotted usually with red or yellow, and furnished with six short legs near 

 the fore part of the body, are far more voracious than the mature insect ; 

 they creep along on the leaves of plants until they find the helpless 

 Aphides, among which they ravage and riot like wolves in a sheep-cot,and 

 then, doubtless, many a heart-broken Aphis parent, pointing to the 

 aldermanic proportions of the lady, exclaim : " Foul murder hath been 

 done ; lo ! here's the proof 1 " 



Occasionally Lady-bird:i occur in immense swarms. Kirby and Spence 

 relate that on one occasion the banks of the Humber were so thickly 

 strewn v/ith the common species, that it was difficult to walk without 

 treading upon them ; at another time they covered in great numbers the 

 sand-hills of Norfolk, and again, the cliffs of Kent and Sussex, " to the 

 no small alarm of the^superstitious, who thought them the forerunners of 

 some direful evil." 



The eggs of these little creatures are long and oval,of a yellowish color 

 and deposited in patches, oftimes among a colony of plant-lice, so that, 

 thanks to the wondrous instinct of the mother, the larvae have not far to 

 crawl to get their first hearty meal. 



