246 SMALL ANIMATE AXD INSECTS. [CnAF. 11, 



louse destroyer does not confine its operations to tlic apliis of cotton-plants, 

 though it seems to prefer theui. It is of immense service to Southern 

 fanners. 



The Ladij-hird (Coccinella) is another valuable assistant to the cotton- 

 planter, in particular. Where the lice most abound, there will be found the 

 hu1y-l)ird doing its work. Yet there are numerous planters who, seeing this 

 insect hovering over the cotton, suj)pose it the parent of the pest they stand 

 so much in fear of, and direct the negroes to destroy all they can. It was a 

 negro who first discovered that the worms hatched from their eggs, which 

 are deposited on the leaf near the aphis, actually consume them, instead of 

 the cotton-plant. The worms are a quarter of au inch long, bluish-black, 

 anil voracious as an alligator, to which they bear some slight resemblance. 

 Thuy seize and eat tlio lice alive, until all upon the leaf are consumed, when 

 the grub fastens itself by the tail to the leaf to await its change. Tlie insect 

 wliile on the wing is also a louse-eater. A disagreeable odor emitted by this 

 insect will serve to identify it. 



The larva of the lace-wing Jly is another cotton-aphis cater. These worms 

 are hatched from filaments of eggs, which the fly attaches to the under 

 side of the leaf near an aphis colony. This larva is not quite one fifth of an 

 inch long. It may be known by the way it holds by the tail, while stretch- 

 ing out full length looking for its favorite food. It spins a little cocoon, out 

 of which, in due time, comes a bright green fly, with brilliant eyes, and 

 four transparent greenish wings, delicately netted like fine lace — hence the 

 name. Tliis insect al^o belongs to the fetid-odor family. 



272. Other luscct Destroyerst — The Carolina tiger-leetle is a beautiful insect, 

 seven tenths of an inch long, of metallic blue, violet, and green color, and 

 sav;ige propensities toward all other insects. 



The Harpalus is another insect-consuming beetle, with very strong 

 hooked jaws adapted to a predator}' Kfe. If it can not find living food, it 

 will consmne dead, putrescent substances. 



Tlie Mantis, an insect known in Maryland as the " rear horse," is a 

 voracious consumer of insects. In fact, it is said that they will sometimes 

 consume one another. The largest are over two inches in length, of a very 

 awkward-looking form. The eggs attached to a limb look like an excres- 

 cence, and are often attacked by an ichneumon fly, as a place of deposit for 

 it> eggs. The young mantis comes out in June, at first without wings, but 

 with a strong appetite for aphides and other insects. It stands upon four hind 

 legs, v,-ith body elevated and forward feet closed, and head constantly 

 moving. It walks, or jumps, when alarmed, but is capable of domestication 

 so as to come and take food out of tiie hand, and is perfectly harmless except 

 to things obnoxious to man, and for that it should be preserved. Its color 

 is brownish gray to light green, and its form will be remembered from a 

 picture of it, or after being once seen or known. 



The Beduvius novenarius measures an inch and a quarter in length, and 

 destroys multitudes of insects in all their stages of transformation. The 



