172 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA. 



then quickly thrusts its dart into the victim, and com- 

 pletely buries its head in the body, and instantly sucks up 

 all the juices, and devours all but the skin, which it throws 

 aside. Buckton, in his invaluable book on the British 

 aphides, has a most interesting chapter on this subject. 

 Our drawings have been taken from nature. 



The Hemerobidce, often called lace-wings, whilst in the 

 larval stage, are great enemies of aphides. The eggs of 

 this delicate though rapacious insect are deposited on the 

 stalks of cabbages and on the twigs of trees (see Fig. 9). 

 The larvae (see Fig. 10) are of a pinkish-brown colour, 

 and destroy vast numbers of aphides, the mandibles 

 or jaws being, as in the case of those of the Ladybird, 

 very powerful for so small an insect. The perfect insect, 

 enlarged, is given at Fig. 12. 



If we wish to keep these pests in subjection we must 

 use such precautions as common sense will dictate. It is 

 of no use sitting down in apparent contentment while the 

 mischief is all the while spreading. 



An artificial remedy must, as I have before remarked, 

 be cheap to be really valuable to the grower, and for such 

 we must always be on the look-out. 



All land, whether there be a crop or no crop, should be 

 cleared, and any blighted plants burned at once. All 

 that is required is constant vigilance coupled with united 

 action. Nature, in the shape of the many small parasites, 

 as Ichneumons, &c., will help us, and the difference 

 between the intelligent and careful grower and the care- 

 less and slovenly one must be, to quote the great 

 Charles Darwin, the "survival of the fittest." 



