INSECT ENEMIES. 2 



The Aphis-lions and the Lace-winged flies produce larvae 

 which destroy them in abundance. Myriads of aphides 

 are destroyed by Lady-birds and their larvae. There are 

 nearly a hundred species of Lady-birds, all of which are 

 our helpers. I have found the large black ant of great 

 service. They concentrate on limbs infested with lice, 

 and clean them off. I count each nest of ants worth a 

 dollar a year as insecticides. 



The Syrphus flies (SyrpJms politus, Say) lay one egg 

 in a group of plant lice, which hatches out a footless, 

 eyeless, flattened, wrinkled, green and purple maggot. 

 Their bodies are supple, and their mouths are provided 

 with a triple-pointed dart, with which they pierce the 

 aphides, and suck them dry. 



A black aphis appears some years in considerable num- 

 bers on my quince cuttings, just in time to destroy open- 

 ing buds. Later I have found it in large numbers on 

 the young shoots of growing trees. I have not yet 

 determined with certainty its position in the aphis 

 family. 



18. KATY-DID, THE BROAD-WINGED KATY-DID (Cyr- 

 tophyllus concavuSyS&y, Platyphyllum concavum, Harris). 

 PlatypJiyllum means a broad wing, and is used to dis- 

 tinguish this from the Southern Katy-did, which belongs 

 to the genus Phylloptera. It is a green grasshopper of the 

 order Orthoptera, and derives its common name from the 

 note of the male, which is produced by a kind of taboret. 

 The triangular overlapping part of each wing-cover forms 

 a strong half-oval frame, in which a thin, transparent 

 membrane is stretched. The friction of the taboret 

 frames against each other when the wing-covers are 

 opened and shut, produces several distinct notes closely 

 resembling articulate sounds, and corresponding with 

 the number of times the wing-covers are opened and 

 shut. In the stillness of the night these notes may be 

 heard a long distance, as rival notes answer from adjacent 



