MAIZE APHIS DESCRIPTION OF. 319 



themselves, until the corn is cut down or ripens and the sap 

 ceases to circulate in the stalks, whereupon they perish. The) 7 

 occur upon no other part of the stalk except the peduncle or 

 stem which bears the ears. And such a multitude of them as is 

 found clustered together upon this stem,, of course abstracts 

 from it much of the sap which should go to nourish the ear and 

 swell the kernels. Should these insects, therefore, ever become 

 multiplied so as to infest a considerable portion of the ears in a 

 field, it is evident they would do much injury to the crop. And 

 like other kindered insects, it is probably they will at times 

 become thus multiplied. 



These insects belong to the family Aphidje in the order 

 Homoptera, and to the genus Jlphis. They are plainly a different 

 species from one which infests the maize in Europe, the Jlphis 

 Zece, of Eonafous, described in the Annals of the Ent. Soc. of 

 France, vol. iv, p. 658, and I propose to designate them the 

 Maize Aphis, Jl Maiidis. The remedies for insects of this kind 

 were treated of in my first report, under the apple plant-louse, 

 and it only remains for me to give a description of this species in 

 the different stages of its growth. 



The larva, when newly born, is 0.03 in length, with the opposite sides of its 

 body parallel, or very slightly wider posteriorly; of a yellow color, the hue of bees- 

 wax, the head pale watery yellowish,the eyes black, the antennae, legs and beak white, 

 the latter long, reaching beyond the base of the hind legs, the nectaries or honey 

 tubes short, merely slight tubercular elevations, and white. These, I think, are 

 individuals which are destined to acquire wings, whilst those which are to remain 

 without them are pale green, much the same color with the surface on which they 

 are placed, the thorax and the tip of the abdomen greenish white, the head slightly 

 dusky, and the tips of the antennae, legs and beak acquiring a blackish tint soon 

 after birth. 



These latter larvae grow to an oval form and a dull green color, with the head and 

 thorax blackish, the abdomen above with two rows of black spots along the middle, 

 the anterior spots confluent transversely, forming a short band, and with three bands 

 at the tip, and an additional row of black spots upon each side. 



The wingless females are dull blackish faintly tinged with green, the color 

 obscured by a glaucous bloom or fine powder with which they are dusted over, the 

 head and commonly two bands upon the thorax smooth and black, with spots of t lie 

 same along the sides of the abdomen and sometimes upon its middle also, the tip 

 of the abdomen drawn out to a black point with two smooth black bands forward 

 of it, the nectaries black and their length about half equalling the distance from 

 their base to the tip, the antennae black and nearly half as long as the body, the 

 legs black with the shanks whitish except at their tips. They are of a plump oval 

 form, rather broadest back of the middle. Their beak is pale, its tip black; it 

 arises from the lower part of the head and reaches only to the base of the middle 

 legs, between which is a deep groove for its reception when at rest. 



