54 



JOUBNAL OB HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( July 16, 18M. 



Mr. Doubleday has pointed out the eiugnlar fact that some 

 plants secrete honeydew spontaneouBly when in an unhealthy 

 state without any interference of insects. 



So remarkably tardy this season were our friends of the 

 insect race that make the aphides their food, that, as I ob- 

 served on several shrubs, these creatures had gone through a 

 succession of generations, and were even beginning to show 

 themselves in the winged condition ere the young larvte of the 

 Ladybirds had come out to clear off a few of them. Those 

 that had wings might take this as a hint to depart and seek 

 " fresh fields and pastures new." Some aphides had, doubt- 

 less, been picked up by 



birds, though these do not 

 apparently rid us of many 

 aphides ; they give the pre- 

 ference to larger game. 

 What one might call the 

 skulkers among them — that 

 is, those which hide them- 

 selves in rolled leaves and 

 contorted shoots, frequently 

 escape the attacks of the 

 larva: of the Syrphi and 

 Coccinellffl, which content 

 themselves with seizing the 

 aphides more easily to be 

 secured. We owe much to 

 the exertions of a host of 

 busy minute flies belong- 

 ing to the Hymenopterous 

 order, which are much more 

 investigative, and seek out 

 aphides in nooks and corn- 

 ers, as well as on exposed 

 leaves and twigs. There 

 may now be seen on many 

 plants, mingled with the 

 cast-oft skins of aphides 

 that have gone through 

 their transformations, the 

 carcases of others that have 

 had their interiors removed 

 by the minute maggots 

 which have been hatched 

 from the eggs deposited by 

 the aphides. It has been 

 thought by some that the 

 eggs of these little flies are 

 produced late in the autumn 

 in readiness for the coming 

 year; but as winged females 

 are abroad tolerably early 

 in the summer season, the 

 probabilities are that they 

 make the start, though 

 there may be several suc- 

 cessive broods afterwards. 

 As time advances we shall 

 get to know more about 

 these aphidii ; they have 

 most of them many-jointed 

 antenniE, with wings of 

 rather a dingy hue, as also 

 is the body, the legs being paler. 



" What a beautiful fly !" is the exclamation one occasionally 

 hears in the garden as that delicate insect, the Lace-winged 

 fly, Chrysopa perla, is watched by some stroller as it reposes 

 on a leaf preparatory to taking its evening flight. Admiration 

 will be probably changed to disgust should a close inspection 

 be attempted and the insect be touched, for, unless the handling 

 be done very tenderly, it exudes an odour which is far from 

 being agreeable, and no doubt serves as a defence to the species ; 

 there are times, however, when no smell is perceivable. In 

 this and other species of Chrysopa the tender structure of the 

 insect and the absence of all defensive weapons would expose 



it to much peril could it 



noticed than others of its brethren ; this has a black body, 

 though the wings are of a smoky tint, and the legs, under a 

 glass, show dark browu bands on a reddish ground. Mr. F. 

 Walker, who has done so much towards the disentangling of 

 the history of the aphis and its parasites, not long since pub- 

 lished a curious account of A. Nympb.TtB and its aphids. In 

 this instance the paratites were greatly outnumbered by the 

 aphides ; possibly, he thinks, they were in the proportion of 

 about ten to one ; but as the aphis in question is only found 

 upon water plants, and so is in no way harmful to man, there 

 is less call for effort on the part of Nature to keep it in check. 

 This entomologist asks, " Could we not transfer to such places 

 as needed them thousands of aphidii, taking them ere they had 

 emerged as flies from the carcases in which they have been 

 sustained ?" Beside the aphidii, several more of the minute 

 four-winged flies belonging to the Chalcidida? prey on aphides, 

 and also some that are ahied to the Microgasters, which kill so 

 many of the caterpillars of our common white butterflies. 



not deter in some way part 

 of its would-be foes. The 

 large slight wings, the make 

 of the body and legs, and 

 the hue of green and white, 

 relieved only by the eyes 

 which have a golden or 

 golden-red lustre, all be- 

 speak weakness. Should 

 these insects be successful, 

 according to the Darwinian 

 hypothesis, in so far im- 

 proving themselves as to 

 get rid of the signs of weak- 

 ness and fragility, we may 

 suppose they will then cease 

 to be malodorous — what 

 they lose in beauty they will 

 gain in sweetness ! Flying 

 also with the Lace-winged 

 flies is rather a painful 

 process, judging from the 

 awkward laborious way ia 

 which they make their 

 aerial journeys. Softness 

 is certainly not the charac- 

 teristic of the larviE of these 

 flies, which have earned for 

 themselves the epithet of 

 " aphis lions," though they 

 are scarcely so desperate in 

 their attacks upon those 

 pests as are the larva of the 

 SyrphidiB. Not a few mi- 

 croscopists have haatUy 

 plucked a leaf on which was 

 a cluster of the eggs of a 

 Chrysopa, and popped it 

 into a box for home ex- 

 amination, believing that 

 they had secured some curi- 

 ous vegetable growth. These 

 eggs are stalked, but I am 

 not aware that any entomo- 

 logist has seen a fly in the 

 act of depositing them, so we 

 are not able to explain how 

 it is managed. They aie 

 grouped in clusters of from 

 ten to twenty, or even more ; 

 the stalk supporting the egg 

 A. EiipaD has been oftener is four or five lines in length, and, what is singular, it rests upon 



Fig. 19.— Athides and ant (magnified.) 



a small disc or plate of a silvery appearance attached to the leaf. 

 We do know a little about the emergence of the young larvae, 

 as they have been noticed in the act of eating a hole in their 

 shells, and then crawling down the stalk or peduncle, not 

 dropping to the leaf. These are furnished with six feet, and 

 are able to move with rapidity over the leaves and flowers oS 

 plants ; they are less frequently seen on twigs or branches. 

 Like others in the same Neuropterous order, they are apt to 

 be spiteful towards each other should they come into collision 

 by accident, but their staple food is aphides. Having fatteued- 

 up, each larva spins a silken cocoon, in which a few weeks ifl 

 spent by the pupa ere it bursts the shell to appear as a winged 

 insect. One of the old authors on entomology gave to thesa 

 flies the name of Hemerobii, the derivation of which tells ns 

 that it implies they live only for a day. This is a slight error, 

 as their existence in the fly state lasts longer than that, and 

 " Chrysopa," appropriate to their golden and sparkling eyes, 

 is a more suitable designation. The French have chosen to- 



