8o The Connecticut Pomological Society 



would naturally expect it would have a well -developed pair of 

 eyes. They are well developed, and nature has gone one step 

 further. Where his mouth should have been there is a second 

 pair of eyes. So he has four eyes instead of two. I throw in 

 these things incidentally, to give some idea of the peculiar and 

 interesting features of this wonderful insect from a scientific 

 point of view. 



There is another point that is peculiarly interesting, and 

 that is, this creature is not produced from eggs. The young 

 are born alive. A surprising thing about them is the fact that 

 a pair of them, from early spring until late fall, may become 

 the father and mother of a progeny of over three billion 

 individuals. That is a surprising statement, but such is the 

 case. As a matter of fact, the first brood of young in the 

 locality of Hartford would probably appear from about the 7th 

 to the 15th of June, and within thirty daj's from the time the 

 first are born they are reproducing at the same rate. The 

 mother producing the first generation in a very short time 

 becomes a grandmother, a great-grandmother, even a great- 

 great -grandmother. With this condition of affairs it becomes 

 very important to examine the young insects. The young 

 insects have well -developed legs, and they appear pretty well 

 adapted to take care of themselves. (See Fig. 5.) The young 

 insect, 1 assure you, is an industrious chap, and gets right to 

 work as soon as possible, inserting that lance-like beak in the 

 tree. After it finds a suitable place to insert its beak, and 

 settles down, it begins to shed through the pores on its back 

 what looks like a mass of wax. The resemblance is more like 

 a minute mass of wax than an insect (as shown in Fig. 5, f). 

 They are about the size of the diameter of a pin. That 

 would approximate very closely to the size of one of these 

 insects, but, at the same time, what they lack in size they 

 make up in numbers. An individual insect upon a tree or 

 shrub would have no effect upon it at all, but when you com- 

 bine the force of the attack of a billion of these tiny creatures, 

 working from spring until fall, it is a very rare case that is able 

 to withstand it. 



The hardiest fruit trees are not able to survive it. The 

 length of time necessary to kill the tree depends somewhat 



