266 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



of our childhood, wliich, as well as most of its conge- 

 ners, ill the larva state feeds entirely on Aphides * ; and 

 the havoc made amongst them mdy be conceived from 

 the myriads upon myriads of these little interesting ani- 

 mals, which are often to be seen in years when the plant- 

 louse abounds. In 1807 the shore at Brighton and all 

 the watering-places on the south coast was literally co- 

 vered with them, to the great surprise and even alarm of 

 the inhabitants, who were ignorant that their little vi- 

 sitors were emigrants from the neighbouring hop-grounds, 

 where in their larva state each had slain his thousands 

 and tens of thousands of the A})his, which under the 

 name of the Flij so frequently blasts the hopes of the 

 hop -grower. It is fortunate that in most countries the 

 children have taken these friendly Coccinellae under 

 their protection. In France they regard them as sacred 

 to the Virgin, and call them Vachcs a Die^i, Bctcs de la 

 Viergc, &c. ; and with us, commiseration for the hard 

 fate of a mother, whose " house is on fire and children 

 at home," ensures them kind treatment and liberty. 

 Even the hop-growers arc becoming sensible of their 

 services, and, as I am informed, hire boys to prevent 

 birds from destroying them. — If we could but discover a 

 mode of increasing these insects at will, we might not 

 only, as Dr. Darwin has suggested, clear our hot-houses 

 of Aphides by their means, but render our crops of hops 

 much more certain than they now arc. Even without 



* The larv.x of some species of Coccinelkv feed, according to Prof. 

 D. Rcicli, solely on the leaves of plants; as that of C. hicrogli/phka, 

 which eats the leaves of connnon heath {Erica vulgaris) after the man- 

 ner of the larva; of Lcpidoptcra. I suspect, iiowever, that there is 

 some mistake in this statement. Dcr GcscUschofl naturf. Fr. in Ber- 

 lin Mag. &c. iii, 294. 



