OF AGRICULTURE, 85 



abound, always being busy at the work of destruc- 

 tion, thus proving itself one of the most beneficial of 

 insects to the planter, The larva of the lady bird is 

 a small, blueish, black, alligator-looking insect, of 

 about one- fourth of an inch in length, spotted with a 

 few orange marks on the sides and back. Whenever 

 one of them is seen among a colony of lice, the planter 

 may safely calculate that in a few days the number 

 of the lice will be greatly diminished. When about 

 to change into the pupa state, it fastens itself to the 

 tail of a leaf, the skin of the back splitting open, a 

 small, hump- back black and orange colored pupa 

 makes its appearance. After remaining in this state 

 a few days, this skin again splits, and a perfect lady 

 bird emerges, furnished at first with soft wings, 

 which afterwards harden and serve to transport it 

 to distant colonies of plant lice, in the midst of which 

 the eggs are again deposited, to form new broods for 

 the destruction of the planter's greatest pest. The 

 perfect lady bird also destroys the lice, but not in 

 such numbers as their larvae. Many planters imagine 

 that these lady birds are, in some mysterious way, 

 connected with the appearance of the cotton louse, 

 or even are the progenitors of the louse itself. This 

 erroneous impression is formed in consequence of 

 these insects being always found at the same time, 

 and abounding on plants having the' most cotton lice. 

 I have known planters to have t! em destroyed by 

 their field hands, when and wherev r found, and who 

 complained that their plants were still destroyed. 

 This result was only to be expect d, as they had 

 killed the natural enemy to the louse, ind suffered the 

 pests themselves to breed in peace and safety, There 



