DESTKUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE GREEN PEACH APHIS. 



(Myzus sp.) 



Order : Hemiptera. Sub-order : Homoptera. Family : Aphididce. 



This species is even more dreaded by growers than 

 the so-called black Peach Aphis, as it appears later in the 

 season, when the trees are in leaf; and as it curls the 

 leaves by perforating them with its beak-like rostrum 

 (see Fig. 1), it renders the labour of spraying much 

 more difficult, and the chances of destroying the insects 

 more remote. 



The Green Peach Aphis in its habits is much like that 

 of the black one, but the shape and colour of the insects 

 in their various stages are different (see Plate XV.). 



When the aphides leave the tree, which, as a rule, they 

 do about the end of November, or even late in December, 

 according to seasons, locality, &c., the young and perfect 

 insects also congregate around the base of the roots, 

 whilst large numbers, after perpetuating their species, die, 

 and are either blown away or eaten by ants or birds. 

 Ants will carry off dead aphides, but will on no account 

 attack living ones, on which they are, however, partly 

 dependent for their sustenance. Immense numbers of the 

 eggs are deposited in the crevices, crotches, or on other 

 parts of the tree, only to come forth as soon as favor- 

 able weather for their operations commences. This is the 

 case with most aphides, and is the object of attacking them 

 by spraying when the trees have shed their leaves, and 

 again just before the swelling of the buds. The rostrum 

 or beak of the Green Peach Aphis is slightly different to 

 that of the Black Peach Aphis, being somewhat longer and 

 narrower in proportion to the rest of the body. The 

 body of the Green Aphis is broader and more cylindrical 



B 2 



