3G BRITISH APHIDES. 



These egg-tufts contain from thirty to sixty ova, 

 and are of all shades of colour, according to their ages ; 

 from yellow to dark brown, ferruginous, and black. 

 Subsequently the ova are covered by a peculiar 

 silky substance, the packing and disposal of which 

 are effected by means of the cleft ovipositor before 

 noted. 



The Altmutter, or queen, broods upon these eggs, 

 which hatch about the end of May, about which time 

 the green tufts of larch become dotted with small 

 black grains like gunpowder. These are the produce 

 of the queen Aphis's eggs. 



The larvas measure about 0*020 XO'010 of an inch, 

 or 0'50x0'25 millimetre. They are green, slaty-grey, 

 or black ; and are very unlike their parent. They are 

 longer, with head and thorax more separated from the 

 abdomen. The body-rings are more marked, and the 

 six rows of tubercles are more apparent. 



A resinous-looking fluid is secreted, which exudes 

 like small yellow drops from their tail ends. This 

 juice is an object of interest to ants and to wasps. 

 The latter insects, in June and July, keep up a continual 

 hum during their visits to the larch trees. The young 

 Chermes soon double their size, and puncture the 

 needle-like leaves so as to produce a sort of weeping 

 of turpentine, and to cause the leaves to bend at a 

 sharp angle where the injury has taken place. 



The Chermes also shroud themselves in the silky 

 matter which, from the odour it gives when burnt, 

 seems to be of a nitrogenous nature; and appears to be 

 capable of flattening by pressure, and even unravelling 

 into smaller fibres or filamentous threads. It is in- 

 soluble in alcohol, and it does not seem to be of a 

 waxy nature. 



The tarsi of the insect are furnished with two stiff 

 hairs, ending with discs, which probably act like 

 pul villi. Those black tuberculated larvaD, after under- 

 going certain moults, develop their wing-cases, become 

 pupa3, and finally emerge as imagos. 



