

APHIDES 189 



at night. The Chinese Lantern Fly (Fulgora candelaria) presents 

 a very curious appearance, the front of the head being prolonged 

 into a long process that looks like a carnival false-nose. 



The Aphides, or Plant Lice, are an exceedingly interesting 

 family, not only on account of the damage they cause to trees 

 and various crops, but because of their remarkable method of 

 reproduction. Small and feeble insects individually, they increase 

 so rapidly in numbers that the infested plant is quickly covered 

 by them, and if left untended, sickens and dies. The abundance 

 or scarcity of the Hop Aphis (Aphis [Phorodon] humuli) is an 

 important factor in the quality of the hops ; and the cost of fight- 

 ing this pest makes it very hard for the British farmer to compete 

 against foreign untaxed imported hops. " In France the spread 

 of another species, the dread Phylloxera vastatrix, has caused fear- 

 ful loss throughout the vine-growing districts. Indeed, it is a 

 striking object lesson of the truly appalling destruction insects are 

 capable of causing. In the year 1875 the area under cultivation 

 as vineyards in France amounted to 6,382,000 acres, and inji885, 

 through the ravages of the Phylloxera alone, it had become re- 

 duced to 2,868,000 acres. That is to say, in round numbers, 

 within a period of ten years, four million acres of once healthy 

 and prosperous vineyards had been laid waste by these insects. 

 Fortunately, preventive means have been found to arrest this 

 swift and appalling work of destruction, and the threatened 

 industry saved from total extinction. Nevertheless, the ravages 

 of the Phylloxera have cost France a financial loss far in 

 excess of that of the Franco-German War. This terrible insect 

 foe appears to have first been discovered in North America 

 in 1854, and to have been carried thence on the exported 

 vine-plants to Europe, where it quickly established itself and 

 appeared as a noticeable infestation about 1863. To-day it is to 

 be found in all vine-growing countries. The greatest difficulties 

 have been experienced in attempting the successful destruction 

 of this scourge without injuring or totally destroying the vine- 

 plants, and but for the fact that the Phylloxera has many natural 

 foes, and that these have been wisely cherished and encouraged 

 in the vineyards, it would have been impossible to check the swift 

 and ever-increasing spread of this terrible pest." * 



i " Our Insect Friends and Foes," by F. Martin Duncan. 



