SUMMER MEETING. 139 



uuueually heavy rains had destroyed many of these useful insects, 

 while the cool and cloudy weather prevented others from appearing. 



The principal destroyers of plant lice are the small handsome 

 beetles which the English call " Lady-birds," and the Americans " Lady- 

 bugs." As most of the earlier writers on entomology used the English 

 appellation it has become the standard one. Almost every one recog- 

 nizes these pretty and beneficial insects at sight, however, little he may 

 know of entomology, and he knows also that they should not be killed. 

 There are a dozen or more distinct species, but all have the same 

 habits. It is while in the larva or growing stage in which they are not 

 unlike miniature aligators — that they are most voracious and able to 

 dispose of a large colony of the aphids in a very few days. 



Next to the lady-birds in point of usefulness are the somewhat 

 similarly shaped " Aphis Lions," the young of two or three species of 

 lace-wing llies. After these come the syrphus flies, whose legless and 

 headless larvae look like slender jelly-like slugs. They also require a 

 great many aphids to nourish them to perfection. The soldier beetles 

 in their running about also enjoy a feast of the sweet and juicy animated 

 atoms whenever they come across them. So likewise does the red 

 paper-making wasp, Polistes Riibiginosus, whom I have observed to 

 gobble up a whole colony at a meal. The tree crickets also make use 

 of aphids exclusively as their " baby food," although when mature they 

 do some damage to vegetation. Some other insects might be added 

 to this "roll of honor," but those mentioned are the most dependable 

 of our allies against the minute myriads, that without their interposi- 

 tion would soon sweep vegetation from the face of the earth. Warm 

 sunny weather brings them out in thousands to the rescue, and we 

 may take courage in the certainty that the '■ Aphis plague" will soon 



subside. 



Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo. 



Violin solo — Prof. Kelly. 



SOME REMINISCENCES OP HORTICULTURE. 



Mr. President and Members of the Mo. State Horticultural Society 

 — I flee that you have honored me by a place on your program to give 

 you "Some Reminiscences of Missouri Horticulture," and as I cannot 

 be with you in person, as it would certainly be a "feast of reason and 

 a flow of soul" to meet my many old friends once more, grasp their 



