104 DESTROYERS OF APHIDES. 



is there. You will sometimes even be guided to the Aphis 

 by the presence of the lady-bird. 



(415.) Kirby and Spence say " that in France they re- 

 gard these CoccinellfB as sacred to the Virgin ; and call 

 them * Vaches a Dieu, Betes de la Vierge ;' " and even in 

 this country they are great favorites with children. 



(416.) " In 1307 the shore at Brighton and all the water- 

 ing-places on the south coast was literally covered with 

 them, to the great surprise and even alarm of the inhabit- 

 ants, who were ignorant that they were emigrants." I 

 have heard also that at Ramsgate the entire cliff has been 

 occasionally completely covered with this pretty little 

 beetle. 



(417.) There is no doubt that if we could breed these 

 creatures by millions, we could annihilate the Aphis ; but 

 the vastator is such a sad rover, that I suspect it often es- 

 capes the beetle. The larva of the beetle is more destruc- 

 tive to these insects than the beetle itself. (Plate x., figs. 

 10, 11, 12.) 



(418.) Kirby and Spence state that " there is a beauti- 

 ful genus of four-winged flies, whose wings resemble the 

 finest lace, and whose eyes are often as brilliant as bur- 

 nished rnetal, the larvee of which, Reaumur, from their be- 

 ing insatiable devourers of Aphides, has named the lions 

 of the Aphides. When amongst the Aphides, like wolves 

 in a sheep-fold, they make dreadful havoc; half a minute 

 suffices one of them to suck the largest Aphis : and the 

 individual of one species clothes itself, like Hercules, with 

 the spoils of the. hapless victims." (Plate x., figs. 5, 6, 

 Chrysopa perla). 



(419.) There are many species of Sylpliida (a family 

 of dipterous insects), which destroy Aphides. The larvae 



