138 



FARM SPIES 



\ 



beaks into the roots to satisfy their hunger, at the 

 same time making delicious honey-dew which they 

 yield to the ants willingly in pay for coming between 

 them and destruction at the approach of winter. 

 In most cases this arrangement provides sufficient 

 food until the spring plants appear again." 



Joe had become excited. "In the spring the ants 



carry the aphids to the 

 young plants as they 

 come up, do they?" he 

 asked. 



"Well, yes, but there 

 is a faster way," the ento- 

 mologist explained . "Na- 

 ture has so endowed the 

 aphids that in the spring 

 when the winter food- 

 plants fail in their sup- 

 ply of sap, the little wing- 



\. 



(After Forbes.) 

 FIG. 56. "The little wingless 



less creatures produce a 



large number of winged individuals, which, driven 

 by impulse, leave the homes of their protectors and 

 fly through the air in every direction in search of 

 the sweet juice of the young cotton plants." 



"How in the world do the ants find the aphids 

 again after they let them fly away ? ' ' Sam Drake asked. 



"I was just going to tell you about that," the 

 entomologist replied. "It seems that even before 



