THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



41 



It is certainly true that the Ants, if they can help 

 it, will not allow any winged fly to visit their mileh- 

 kino, beinp; probably afraiJ that such flies come to 

 rob them ol' the sugary fluid in which they take 

 such delight. Thus — unconscious of what they are 

 really doing — they ufteu drive olf Icliaeumon flics, 

 that would otherwise deposit their eggs in the bo- 

 dies of the Plant-lice and thereby cause their death, 

 and Si/rphus flies that would otherwise lay their 

 eggs among the Plant-lice. But I have repeatedly 

 seen them gathering in crowds round one of the 

 fat, fleshy ^4jj/iis-devouriug larvas of the S/yrphux 

 flies, pulling him about in every direction, as if to 

 ascertain whether he had got any honey in his bo- 

 dy, like their friends the Plant-lice; and then, hav- 

 ing apparently satisfied themselves that the fat gen- 

 tleman was not in the grocery business, and not 

 knowing that he butchered daily hundreds of their 

 honey-producing friends, turn away in despair, and 

 leave him unharmed and unwounded to his owu 

 devices, as a "hard case" that nobody could make 

 anything out of. It is apparently for the same 

 reason, namely, to prevent sugar-loving flies from 

 robbing them of their own private and peculiar 

 honey-dew, that ants occasionally construct a kind 

 of tent round a little flock of their plant-lice, but 

 only where those plant-lice are located on a twig, 

 and never, so far as I have observed, where they 

 are located on a leaf. Two such sets of cases I have 

 personally observed, in one of which several scores 

 of an undesoribed Aphh, that inhabits the twigs of 

 the Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), had 

 been enclosed in a dark-brown tent, composed of 

 minute particles of bark, by a common black spe- 

 cies of Mi/nnicn, (probably the lineolafa of Say,) 

 as represented in the annexed wood-cut, which is 



drawn from nature. In the other case another un- 

 described Aphis, which inhabits the twigs of two 

 species of Willow, (Salix cordata and S. longifolia,) 

 had been surrounded with a similar but very much 

 larger tent, by an ant belonging to the genus For- 

 mi'ca, but what particular species I have forgotten. 

 A case of the same kind on a species of Alder is re- 

 corded by Mr. Wm. Couper, as occurring near To- 

 ronto, in Upper Canada. (Proceedings, &c. I, p. 

 373.) 



ENEMIES OF THE PLANT-LICE. 

 Unlike the Hare, which, according to the Fable, 

 had ''many friends," the Plant-louse has but one 

 friend — the Ant; but its enemies are legion. Vol- 

 umes might be written on this subject, but it must 

 suffice here to indicate briefly the principal groups 

 of insects which attack them, omitting such details 

 as would be interesting only to the professed Natu- 

 ralist. But for the enormous number of these ene- 

 mies — enormous, not only iu the number of particu- 

 lar species, but in the number of individuals be- 

 longing to each particular species — there can be no 



question that, on account of the prodigious rate at 

 which Plant-lice "increase and multiply and re- 

 plenish the earth," every green thing on the face 

 of the globe would, in a very few months, be utterly 

 destroyed by them. 



The first and most prominent in the list, are va- 

 rious species of Ladybirds ( Coccindla family), two 

 of the commonest of which are represented in the 

 annexed wood-cut, the hair-line showing the natu- 

 ral length of each. The one to the right is the 9- 



Colors, pink and ' "^^ Colors, brick- 



black. Colors, yellowish red, black and 



and blackish. white, 



marked Ladybird (CrjccineUa 9-notata); that to 

 the left is the Spotted Ladybird {Hlppodamia ma- 

 cuhifa), which is one of the few insects found in- 

 discriminately both in Europe and North America, 

 but which there is no reason to think has been im- 

 ported by man, from one country to the other. 

 There are a great many other species, mostly yel- 

 lowish or reddish with black spots, or black with 

 yellowish or reddish spots. The larvaj of all of 

 them have a strong general resemblance, being 

 elongate, active, lizard-like insects, generally of a 

 dusky color, with more or less yellowish spots, and 

 with six legs placed at the fore part of their bodies. 

 The middle figure in the above wood-cut exhibits 

 one of these larvaj. 



For the last three years, as I Jearn from an ex- 

 cellent article on Hop Culture, published in the 

 N'eic York Tribune, (Sept. 18, 1806,) the Hop- 

 plants in the United States have been infested by 

 a peculiar vl^)/t(s.* For time immemorial this plant 

 has likewise been infested in Europe by au Aphis; 

 and it; is, therefore, not improbable that the insect 

 may have been introduced thence into this country, 

 along with imported hop-vines. Be this as it may, 

 it is stated, that in the United States the Aphis 

 .sometimes "blights whole hop-yards and renders 

 their product worthless," and that "the most eflS- 

 cient natural remedy against its ravages is the lady- 

 bug or ladybird." The larva of the Ladybird is 

 said to be well-known to the hop-pickers, under the 

 name of "black nigger" or "serpent," and to be 

 carefully preserved by them "as one of their most 

 efiicient friends." 



Another genus of Ladybirds ( Chilocortis) is usu- 

 ally of a highly- polished black color with red spots, 

 and in shape resembles almost exactly the half of a 

 split pea. The right hand figure in the annexed 

 wood-cut exhibits a very common species — the 

 Twice-stabbed Ladybird (Chilororvs hiuulnerus), 

 the name referring to the two blood-colored spots 

 or stab-like markings on the back. This species, 

 however, preys more peculiarly upon bark-lice, and 



'-' This agrees pretty well with a statement which I 

 find in the Utiral Kexv Yorker, of Oct. 10, ISfiS, that plant- 

 lice made their first appearance on the hop-vine, in Onei- 

 da and Madison Counties, N. Y., iu the year 1SC3. 



