292 ANNUAL REPORT. 



as safely on its feet, plunges its beak into the leaf or branch on 

 which it finds itself, and begins pumping up sap with all its 

 strength. It is never satiated, and only withdraws its beak for 

 a brief interval two or three times, when it molts its skin, or to 

 seek a fresher leaf if the one first attacked becomes too dry. 



Nature provides against its being gorged with the sweet juices 

 by furnishing it with two little tubes or outlets on the back, 

 through which the superfluous fluids exude in the form of "honey 

 dew." This very shortly turns black and moulds, while the 

 punctures of the insects distort the tender twigs and cause the 

 leaves to curl and wither, so that a badly infested tree is a most 

 unsightly object. That sound, well-flavored fruit will be pro- 

 duced on a tree under such circumstances is not to be expected. 

 Wherever the young apples are punctured by the aphides, or are 

 spattered with honey dew, the skin becomes rough and warty, 

 and the form and flavor of the fruit is proportionately impaired. 



Toward the end of summer the true male and female aphides 

 are developed, and the latter, instead of producing living young, 

 lay large numbers of eggs. These are very jninute and of a 

 shining, black color, and are placed in the cracks Of the bark on 

 the trunk and large branches. By means of these eggs the spe- 

 cies is perpetuated through the winter. The best preventive, 

 therefore, against the attacks of this pest is to have all the outer 

 loose bark scraped from the trees, and have them thoroughly 

 washed with strong soapsuds or whitewashed. This should be 

 done during mild days in winter, or very early in spring. Many 

 hibernating enemies of the fruit and foliage, besides these plant 

 lice, will also be exterminated by these measures. 



When the aphides appear in the spring they can be cleaned 

 off by a thorough dusting with air-slacked lime and Pyrethrum 

 powder, or by the use of a small quantity of Paris green in 

 liquid suspension. 



All plant lice have a great many natural enemies, which, even 

 without artificial remedies, greatly reduce their numbers in the 

 course of the season, but they often do irreparable damage be- 

 fore the lady-birds and syrphus flies make their appearance in 

 effective numbers. 



The history of this aphis is in the main the history of most ot 

 the species that attack cultivated plants, although different 

 measures have to be employed for destroying them. 



In his last report. Prof. Forbes, the State entomologist of 

 Illinois, describes several species that had proved very injurious 



