126 EYE SPY 
morsel, which is emptied in the same manner, and 
his first meal would only seem to be limited by 
the number of victims available, so insatiate is his 
craving. In a short time he must needs move up 
farther along the twig, and thus his swath ex- 
tends, until within an incredibly short space of 
time the entire swarm of aphides has disappeared, 
leaving the field occupied alone by the larva, who 
has perhaps now acquired his full growth by their 
absorption a full-fledged "aphis lion," as he is 
called. He is now about a half-inch in length, a 
long pointed oval in outline, the sides of its body 
beset with bristly warts, and its head armed with 
two long incurved teeth. But these teeth are not 
like ordinary teeth, constructed for "chewing" or 
biting, but rather for imbibing, and suggest the 
two straws in the glass of the convivialist ; being 
tubular, their open points are imbedded within 
the juicy body of the aphis, which is soon emptied 
to the last drop. 
The aphides are always with us. Where is the 
lover of the rose-garden who is not painfully 
familiar with the pests, their pale green swarms 
completely encircling the tender shoots, and shed- 
ding their sticky, shining " honey - dew " every- 
where like a varnish upon the leaves and flowers 
beneath. Hardly a plant or tree escapes their 
parasitic attacks in one form or another, where, 
with their beaks imbedded in the tender bark, 
