136 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



in the midst of a swarm of these aphids. From the moment 

 the young hatch they may be said to "do the duty that lies 

 nearest to them," which apparently is to clear of parasites 

 the leaves upon which a kind Providence has placed them. 

 These larvae are grotesque creatures. Black with reddish 

 spots, or occasionally blue, they bristle all over with so many 

 warts and spines that no wonder they themselves are not 

 relished by other animals. They consume indiscriminately 

 plant lice, scale animals, and the young, eggs and larvae, of 

 all sorts of insects. In both the larva and adult stage this 

 little beetle carries on its scavenger work. It belongs in the 

 list of animals which will repay indoor study. 



It has been thought that the nests of these lady beetles, 

 whose habit it is to hibernate snugly in balls, as these are 

 called, under piles of brush, might possibly be collected 

 and distributed in infested gardens. Why not try it ? There 

 seems also to be no reason why lady beetles may not be 

 kept alive through the winter on house plants, but up to this 

 time nobody appears to have done this successfully. 



There are a number of other beetles whose use should be 

 recognized. Conspicuous among them is the tiger beetle, a 

 fierce consumer of caterpillars. Then there is the ichneumon 

 fly, a sort of parasitic wasp, which acts as an insect killer for 

 nearly every sort of plant. Its habit is to lay a bunch of 

 eggs on or in the body of the larva of some other insect, with 

 the result, of course, that this larva is consumed by the newly 

 hatched intruder. The cleverness with which this egg laying 

 is accomplished is certainly marvelous. 



Of ichneumon flies there are many species. They vary 

 greatly in size, several of them being very beautiful. One 

 species drills into the firm tissue of trees, in order to lay her 

 eggs in or upon the body of some wood-boring larva, which, 

 concealed well beneath the bark of some handsome maple, is 



