INSECTS. 31 



sweet secretion. Some entomologists have called Aphides 

 the Ants' cows. 



No one, who is acquainted with the Aphides, and the 

 various insects which prey upon them, will ever permit a 

 valuable plant to suffer injury from these pests. He will 

 collect some of the Aphis' enemies alive, carry them to 

 the affected plant, and set them free to do their work ; 

 there they will remain while the food lasts. The Aphides 

 have more numerous, more active, and more inveterate 

 enemies than insects of any other group these are the 

 means by which their wonderful fecundity is kept in check. 

 Among them are the Aphis-lions, which are the larvae of 

 the Golden-eyed and Lace-wing flies, belonging to the or- 

 der Neuroptera. They are reddish-brown, with a dark 

 stripe down the middle, and a cream-colored one on each 

 side; bodies long, narrow, and wrinkled transversely. 

 Their jaws are long, curved like sickles, projecting forward 

 from their heads horizontally.* 



The Coccinellidce, mentioned as useful members of the 

 order Coleoptera, on a previous page, are among the most 

 active enemies of the Aphides. The eggs are laid in clus- 

 ters of twenty to forty on the under side of a leaf, to 

 which they are closely glued ; they are oval, and light yel- 

 low. They hatcfy into small blackish larvae, which are ac- 

 tive, and which boldly attack an Aphis much larger than 

 themselves, leaving only the empty skin. They consume 

 hundreds while in the larval state, about two weeks, when 

 they attach themselves' by the tail, and go into the pupa 

 state. One of the largest of these ' Lady-birds is the 



* For farther details of these insects, the reader is referred to Pitch's Report, 

 pp. 82 to 98. 



