APHIDES. 199 



watching plants, for the green aphis, therefore, 

 it is always best to keep a close eye on the yellow- 

 ish leaves as they are picked off. If the green fly 

 is found upon them immediate steps must be taken 

 to check it before it has increased sufficiently to 

 spread to other parts of the plant. 



When the fresh and growing leaves become 

 infested, and when it spreads to the flowers and 

 young buds, the matter becomes serious and heroic 

 efforts will be required to get rid of the pest. It 

 is when the insect turns its attention to the flower 

 buds and flowers that the most serious trouble 

 results. The aphis crawls into the very young 

 buds and through its punctures and the suck- 

 ing of the juice the flower is very much dis- 

 torted and is made practically worthless. Two 

 or three of these insects in a bud will so in- 

 jure it that the flower will be valueless. When 

 they occur in great numbers and the buds and 

 flowers are badly infested the former have a 

 speckled or spotted appearance quite unlike what 

 they should be. Instead of the beautiful mauve 

 color, the petals have whitish blotches scattered 

 over them, and this detracts greatly from their 

 appearance and makes them practically worthless 

 so far as selling is concerned. 



Five or six years ago the brown aphis began 

 to attract attention among violet growers. This 

 insect is reddish brown in color and resembles 

 somewhat the one which attacks the chrysanthe- 



