SLIGHT. 851 



Wheeler's russet, and Crofton pippin, I have never 

 observed to be injured by them ; and the insect is 

 so fastidious in its selections, that it will frequently 

 attack the stock or the graft^ leaving the one or the 

 other untouched, should it consist of a kind not to 

 its liking. This insect is viviparous, or produces 

 its young alive, forming a cradle for them by dis- 

 charging from .the extremities of its body a quantity 

 of long, cottony matter, which, becoming inter- 

 woven and entangled, prevents the young from 

 falling to the earth, and completely envelops the 

 parent and offspring. In this cottony substance 

 we observe, as soon as the creature becomes ani- 

 mated in the spring, and as long as it remains in 

 vigour, many round pellucid bodies, which, at the 

 first sight, look like eggs, only that they are larger 

 than we might suppose to be ejected by the animal. 

 They consist of a sweet, glutinous fluid, and are 

 probably the discharges of the aphis, and the first 

 food of its young. That it is thus consumed, I 

 conjecture from its diminution, and its by no means 

 increasing so fast as fa3cal matter would do, from 

 such perpetually-feeding creatures. I have not, 

 in any instance, observed the young to proceed 

 from these globular bodies, though they are found 

 of various ages at all times during the season. This 

 lanuginous vestiture seems to serve likewise as a 

 vehicle for dispersing the animal ; for though most 

 of our species of aphis are furnished with wings, I 

 have never seen any individual of this American 

 blight so provided ; but the winds, wafting about 



