300 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



ing an experiment of decomposing them in lye 

 "without l)oiling, and you shall know the result. 



It soeins that Mr. Willis, the conductor of 

 the experiment alluded to, is a "soap manufac- 

 turer," so tliat without doubt the bones he used 

 had been boiled in "strong lye" sufficiuntly to de- 

 prive them of all their animal matter, thereby 

 rendering them so brittle that they might have 

 been pounded up without much difficulty. Hence 

 "strong lye" had much to do with their decom- 

 position. Gypsum should be mixed with bones 

 and lye, to retain the ammonia, if the bones are 

 fresh. S. Tenney. 



HABITS OF INSECTS. 



Small as the subject may appear to persons 

 whose minds have not been turned in that direc- 

 tion, the study of insect life and of the habits and 

 character of the numerous varieties and families 

 of insects which infest our fruit trees, farms, and 

 gardens, is intensely interesting, and when once 

 entered upon, leads to a kind of knowledge which 

 may be turned to practical account in the man- 

 agement of the ftirm or garden. 



The insects injurious to vegetation are some of 

 them so destructive in their habits as to be a great 

 pest to the farmer. To guard against their rav- 

 ages and prevent the serious injury if not the total 

 destruction of our crops, requires in some instances 

 a full knowledge of the habits and of the laws of 

 insect life, a knowledge which very few fai'mers 



A few men in this country have directed their 

 attention to these subjects, and have given to the 

 world the benefit of their researches. Prominent 

 among these is Dr. Harris, of ]\Iassachusetts, whose 

 book is regarded as a standard work upon insects, 

 a work from which a vast amount of practical in- 

 formation may be gained. 



To show the intimate knowledge which may be 

 acquired of the habits of the insects which infest 

 our orchards and gardens, we copy fi-om Dr. Har- 

 I'is's work the following account of the Aphis or 

 plant lice, and of the intimacy subsisting between 

 them and the ant. — New York Farmer. 



"The genus to which plant lice belong is called 

 aphis, from a Greek word which signifies' to 

 exhaust. The following are the principal char- 

 acteristics by which they may be distinguished 

 from other insects. Their bodies are short, oval, 

 and soft, and are furnished at the hinder extremi- 

 ty with two little tubes, knobs, or pores, from 

 which exude almost constantly minute droits of a 

 fluid as sweet as honey ; their heads are small, 

 their beaks are very long and tubular, their eyes 

 are gobnlar, but they have not eyelets, their an- 

 tenna) arc long and usually taper toward the ex- 

 tremity, and their legs are also very long and 

 slender, and there arc only two joints to their feet. 

 Their ujyper are nearly twice as large as the lower 

 wings, are longer than tlie body, arc gradually 

 widened toward the extremity, and are nearly 

 trianguLir ; they are almost vertical when at rest, 

 and cover the body above like a very sharp-ridged 

 roof. 



****** 



"Plant lice seem to love society, and often herd 

 together in dense masses, each one remaining 

 fixed to tlie plant by means of its long tubular 

 beak; and they rarely change their places till 



they have exhausted the part first attacked. The 

 attitudes and manners of these little creatures arc 

 exceedingly amusing. When disturbed, like res- 

 tive horses, they begin to kick and sprawl in a 

 most ludici'ous manner. They may be seen, at 

 times, suspended by their beaks alone, and throw- 

 ing up their legs as if in a high frolic, but too 

 much engaged in sucking, to witlidraw their 

 beaks. As they take in great quantities of sap, 

 tlicy would soon become gorged if they did not 

 get rid of the superabundant fluid tln-ough the 

 two little tubes or pores at the extremity of their 

 bodies. When one of them gets running over full, 

 it seems to communicate its uneasy sensations, by 

 a kind of animal magnetism to the whole flock, 

 upon which they all, with one accord, jerk up- 

 ward their bodies, and eject a shower of the hon- 

 eyed fluid. The leaves and bark of plants mucli 

 infested by these insects are often completely 

 sprinkled over with drops of this sticky fluid, 

 which, on drying, becomes dark-colored, and 

 greatly disfigure the plant. This appearance has 

 been denominated honey-dew ; but there is anoth- 

 er somewhat similar production observable on 

 plants, after very dry weather, which has received 

 the same name and consists of an extravasation or 

 oozing of the sap from the leaves. We are oftun 

 apprised of the presence of plant lice on plants 

 growing in the open air, by the ants ascending 

 and descending the stem. By observing tlie mo- 

 tions of the latter, we soon ascertain that the 

 sweet fluid discharged by the lice is the o)>ject of 

 these visits. The stems swarm with slim and hun- 

 gry ants running upward, and others lazily de- 

 scending with their bellies filled almost to burst- 

 ing. When arrived in the immediate vicinity of 

 the plant lice, they greedily wipe up the sweet 

 fluid which has distilled from them, and when 

 this fails, they station themselves among the lice 

 and catch the drops as they fall. The lico do not 

 scom the least annoyed by the ants, but live on 

 the best possible terms with them; and, on the 

 other hand, the ants, though unsparing of other 

 insects weaker than themselves, upon which they 

 frequently prey, treat the plant liee witli the ut- 

 most gentleness, caressing them with tlicir anten- 

 na), and apparently inviting them to give ovit the 

 fluid by patting their sides. Nor are the lice in- 

 attentive to these sdlicitations, when in a state to 

 gratify the ants, for whosft sake they not only 

 seem to shorten the periods of the dis^'iargc, but 

 actually yield the fluid when thus pressed. A 

 single louse has been known to give, it drop by 

 drop successively to a number of ants tliat were 

 waiting anxiously to receive it. When the plant 

 lice cast their skins, the ants instantly remove the 

 latter, nor will they allow any dirt or rublnsh to 

 remain on or about them. They even 2irote(:t them 

 from tlieir enemies, and run about them in the 

 hot sunshine to drive away the little icinieumon 

 flies that are forever hovering near to deposit their 

 eggs in their bodies." 



How TUE World was Made. — If you want 

 to know how the world was made, look into a 

 basin of dirty water — your wash bowl for example. 

 See the thin particles of matter gradually come 

 together by mutual attraction, and then hang 

 suspended in the watery element, or sink to the 

 bottom. Each particle is instinct with a sort of 

 life or force, which impels it to seek out some 



