176 APHIDES, WINGED AND WINGLESS. 



Now for our blight-disfigured rose-bud, which, instead of 

 encasing green and bursting red, displays nothing but a 

 moving multitude a conglomeration of Plant-lice, which, 

 taken en masse, is certainly no pleasing object. For all this, 

 the little winged animal which, as being more conspicuous 

 than the bulk of its fellows, we shall first single from among 

 them, is no inelegant specimen of nature's Lilliputian work- 

 manship. It has a plump shining body of deep bright green, 

 spotted at the sides with black ; long slender legs, inclining 

 to reddish, and, like a bamboo reed, marked at every joint 

 with black or darkest brown. The shoulders, head, and long 

 jointed antennae are also chiefly black, as well as two diverging 

 spikelets proceeding from the back ; while a pair of ample 

 wings, much longer than the body, rise erectly over it. 



This pretty insect, and those which resemble it, look like the 

 aristocracy of the wingless multitude by which they are sur- 

 rounded ; and though we cannot pronounce their pinions to 

 be borne as. badges of rank, we believe that no reason has, as 

 yet, been assigned with certainty for the partial distribution 

 among Aphis tribes of the organs of flight, which do not with 

 them, as with various other insects, serve as a distinction 

 either of age or sex. A cause, indeed, which, if true, is most 

 curious and interesting, has been* assigned for this difference 

 of endowment among Aphides. It has been supposed to 

 depend on the quality and quantity of nourishment within 

 their reach ; those which in this respect are well provided on 



