THE INSECTS OF JUNE. 



203 



I 



247. Pemphigus. 



light during mild evenings, and on hot sultry days the shrill 

 rasping song of the male Cicada, for "they all have voiceless 

 wives," cuts the air. The Chinch-bug, that fell destroyer of our 

 wheat crops, appears, according to Harris, in the middle of the 

 mouth, and "may be seen in their various stages of growth on 

 all kinds of grain, on corn 

 and herds-grass during 

 the whole summer." So 

 widely spread is this in- 

 sect at present, that we 

 have even detected it in 

 August on the summit of 

 Mount Washington. 



The Diptera, or two-winged flies, contain hosts of noxious 

 insects, such as the various Cecidomyians, or two-winged Gall 

 flies, which now sting the culms of the wheat and grasses, and 

 various grains, and leaves of trees, producing gall-like excres- 

 cences of varying form. Legions of these delicate minute flies 

 fill the air at twilight, hovering over wheat fields and 

 shrubbery. A strong north west wind, at such times, 

 is of incalculable value to the farmer. Moreover, 

 minute flies, allied to the house fly, such as Tephritis, 

 Oscinis, etc., now attack the young cereals, doing 

 immense injury to grain. 



Millions of Aphides, or Plant lice, now infest our 

 shade and fruit trees, crowding every green leaf, 

 into which they insert their tiny oeaks, sucking in 

 the sap, causing the leaves to curl up and wither. 

 They also attack the stems and even the roots of 

 plants, though these latter (Pemphigus, Fig. 247) 

 differ generically from the true Plant lice. Fruit 

 trees should be again washed and rubbed to kill off 

 the young Bark lice, of which the common apple 

 Bark louse (Aspidiotus conchiformis, Fig. 248), 

 whose oyster-shaped scales may be found in myriads 



248. Apple neglected trees, is a too familiar example. An- 

 15'irk Louse. 



other pest of apple trees is the woolly Blight (Eri- 



.osoma lanigera). These insects secrete from the surface of the 

 body a downy, cottony substance which conceals the animal, and 

 when they are, as usual, grouped together on the trees, makes 

 them look like patches of mould. The natural insect enemies 



