RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



77 



Generation. Produce. 



1 1 Aphis. 



2 100 one hundred. 



3 10,000 ten thousand. 



4 1,000,000 one million. 



5 100.000.000 one hundred millions 



6 10,000,000,000 ten billions. 



7 1,000,000,00i),n00 one trillion. 



8 100.000.000,000,000 one hundred trillions 



9 10,000,000,000,000,000 ten quadrillions. 



10 . . . .1,000,000,000,000,000,000 one quiutillion. 



Again, Professor Huxley is quoted as 

 saying that the tenth brood alone, if all its 

 members survive the perils to which they 

 are exposed, contains more substance than 

 five hundred million stout men, or more 

 than the whole population of China. 



They have appeared to me especiall}'^ 

 numerous this season, and man}' of the 

 leaves have blackened and curled up, while 

 the others assumed a wet and waxy appear- 

 ance, occasioned b}' the "honey dew," an 

 exudation from the lice, which sprinkled 

 the pavement, and fell into the faces of 

 pedestrians. These insects pierce the leaves 

 with their beaks, and eat almost continu- 

 ously, which they are able to do by means 

 of two tubes placed on the last segment of 

 the -abdoinen, through which the excess of 

 fluid passes out as the afore-mentioned honey 

 dew. 



Many flies and bees, and especially ants, 

 were attracted to these infested trees. A 

 histoiy of the relations common between 

 the ants and plant-lice is of great interest, 

 but too long for this article. 



Matters remained about in this condition 

 until July 1, when as I was walking on 

 Broadway, about 7 a. m., I noticed the 

 English sparrows, executing peculiar man- 

 oeuvres, running up and around the trunks 

 of the trees like woodpeckers. At a loss 

 to account for this, I started for the nearest 

 tree, obtaining a good view of a sparrow, 

 who hastily' seized a whitish lump of some- 

 thing and flew away. I noticed also that 

 the sparrows flattened their tails against the 

 trees to brace or hold themselves, after the 

 fashion of woodpeckers and creepers, and 

 wondered how much of that food, influence, 

 and exercise would be required to bring 

 about the peculiar stiff'ness and pointed 

 ends on the tail feathers characteristic of 

 those birds. There were more lumps upon 

 the trees, and it was eas}' to decide that they 

 were the larvae of some beetle, and a fur- 

 ther examination discovered occasional!}' a 



perfect specimen. Some of these I sent to 

 Mr. G. W. J. Angell, of New York, know- 

 ing that from his fine cabinet collection he 

 could at once identify the species. I sug- 

 gested also that this new arrival was some- 

 how connected with, and probably preda- 

 tory on, the aphidse. Mis reply was as 

 follows : 



" New York, July 7, 1886. 

 ^'■Editor Random Notes: 



" The insect you send me for determina- 

 tion is one of our well-known coccinellidoe, 

 (commonl}' called lady birds, or lady-bugs,) 

 Anatis 15, punctata, Oliv. In regard to 

 its predator}- character, I would state that 

 it is a fact well known to entomologists that 

 all the coccinellidae and their larvae (with 

 the exception of Epilochna borealis. Fab., 

 which feeds on the squash) prey on 

 Aphidse. See the excellent article, ' Plant 

 Lice, their Friends and Enemies,' by Benj. 

 D. Walsh, in Practical Entomologist^ Vol. 

 II., No. 4, p. 57. Coccinellidae also prey 

 on the eggs, larvae, and pupae of the Col- 

 orado potato bug (Doryphora 10. lineata, 

 Say) see American Entomologist^ Vol. I., 

 No. 3, 1868, and are also the enemies of 

 the chinch bug, see American Entomologist. 

 Vol. L, No. 10, 1869. These facts are suf- 

 ficient, I think, to show the great value of 

 our coccinellidae in the economy of nature, 

 and hence the evil done b v the English s[)ar- 

 row in so ruthlessly destroying our friends 

 and benefactors, the lady-bugs." 



And this brings me to what would seem 

 to be one more link in the chain of evidence 

 against the English sparrow. 



A similar behavior by these birds was 

 observed in other localities by Mr. Samuel 

 Gorham and Mr. Charles Achorn. We all 

 failed to discover that they eat the lice, but 

 the evidence is not conclusive, as no dissec- 

 tions were made. 



Messrs Dickey and Allen report tlie 

 recent capture at Charlestown, N. IL, of an 

 Albino Flying Squirrel (sciuroptorus volu- 

 cella), the ca[)tor, a cat. 



I quite frequently receive reports of the 

 capture of squirrels, moles, birds, and small 

 game in general, by domesticated cats. 



— Ed. 



