392 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



THE APHIDS, OR PLANT-LICE 



Teacher's Story 



KNOW of no more diverting occupation than 

 watching a colony of aphids through a lens; 

 these insects are the most helpless and amiable 

 little ninnies in the whole insect world; and 

 they look the part, probably because their 

 eyes, so large and wide apart, seem so innocent 

 and wondering. The usual color of aphids is 

 green. As they feed upon leaves, this color 

 protects them from sight ; but there are many 

 species which are otherwise colored, and some 

 have most bizarre and striking ornamentations. 

 In looking along an infested leaf stalk, we see 

 them in all stages and positions. One may 



have thrust its beak to the hilt in a plant stem, and 



is so satisfied and absorbed in sucking the juice that 



its hind feet are lifted high in the air and its 



antennas curved backward, making altogether a 



gesture which seems an adequate expression of bliss ; 



another may conclude to seek a new well, and pulls 



up its sucking tube, folding it back underneath the 



body so it will be out of the way, and walks off 



slowly on its six rather stiff legs; when thus moving, 



it thrusts the antennae forward, patting its pathway 



to insure safety. Perhaps this pathway may lead 



over other aphids which are feeding, but this does 



not deter the traveler nor turn it aside; over the 

 backs of the obstructionists it 

 crawls, at which the disturbed 

 ones kick the intruder with both 

 hind legs; it is not a vicious 

 kick but a push rather, which 

 says, "This seat reserved, please !" 

 Perfect bliss! \i is comical to see a row of them 



sucking a plant stem for "dear life," the heads all 



in the same direction, and they packed in and 



around each other as if there were no other plants 



in the world to give them room, the little ones 



wedged in between the big ones, until sometimes 



some of them are obliged to rest their hind legs on 



the antennae of the neighbors next behind. 



Aphids are born for food for other creatures — 



they are simply little machines for making sap 



into honey-dew, which they produce from the 



alimentary canal for the delectation of ants; they 



are, in fact, merely little animated drops of sap on 



legs. How helpless they are when attacked by any 



one of their many enemies ! All they do, when they 



are seized, is to claw the air with their six impotent 



legs and two antennae, keeping up this performance 



Aphids on plant. 

 Photo by Slingerland. 



