Packard] INSECTS OF THE PLANT HOUSE. 07 



i, JitTso^ts of iht) l^Umt Jjlotxse^ 



HAVING gla-iiccd at some of tlie more common insects 

 to be observed in our walks around the garden, we 

 shall in this chapter confine ourselves to a more 

 restricted field of observation, and be content simply with 

 some glances around the plant house, a look at what may be 

 found on the flowers in the parlor, or a survey of the insects 

 of the petunias and geraniums in the cottage window. Every 

 rose has its thorn, and, it may be added, its Aphides ; the lily 

 and azalea their Thrips, and the orange and oleander their 

 scale insects. Few are the insects which afflict our house- 

 hold plants, but a great deal can be said of those few. 



He who would know something of the marvels of biolog}^ 

 the origin of life and of specific forms, he who cares to trace 

 anew the steps which Bonnet, Chamisso, Steenstrup and 

 Owen trod in building up that wonderful theory of parthen- 

 ogenesis, and learn how one insect ma\' through a simple 

 budding process cast off a thronging host of young, pro- 

 duced like the leaves which bud out from the tree, can in his 

 room watch the Aphides of his roses or geraniums. He 

 who would follow Herold, Kiilliker, Zaddach, Claparede, 

 Weismann and Kowalevsky in tracing the development of 

 the insect from a primordial sphere of protoplasm to the 

 adult, can employ the leisure of his winter evenings in such 

 studios, observing'cach change through his microscope, and 

 adding his mite to one of the grandest of biological studies, 

 the growth and development of animals. Again, he who 

 envies the delicate touch and deft fingers in unravelling the 

 intricacies of insect anatom}-, and emulates the master pieces 

 of Straus-Durckheim or Newport, can tr}' his patience and 

 steadiness of hand in dissecting the insects of the conserva- 



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