THE ANIMAL FOOD OF BIRDS. 



45 



ROSE LEAF-HOPPER. 

 Magnified, 



crealures with elongate-oval bodies and hind legs fitted for 

 jumping. An idea of their appearance maybe obtained from 

 the accompanying picture, which represents the well-known 

 rose leaf-hopper. The adult of this species is about one-tenth 

 of an inch long, with a yellowish-white 

 body and white semi-transparent wing- 

 covers. It injures the rose-leaves by suck- 

 ing out the cell contents, giving the upper 

 surface a white-spotted appearance. One 

 or more members of this family live upon 

 a large proportion of the flowering plants, 

 both wild and cultivated, and often do 

 serious damage. 



None of the true bugs are so constantly 

 and generally injurious as the plant-lice, or 

 aphides, which form the family Aphididce. 

 The common "green fly" of house plants 

 is an example of this group, and nearly every cultivated crop 

 is subject to the attack of one or more species. The normal 

 life-history of these little creatures may be briefly outlined in 

 this way : In the spring there hatches from an egg deposited 

 the autumn previous a little plant-louse that sucks the sap of 

 its food-plant for a number of days — sometimes for a fort- 

 night — before it becomes fully grown. During this period of 

 growth it moults, or sheds its skin, a number of times, to 

 provide for its rapidly increasing size. This plant-louse, 

 which developed from the egg, is often called the "stem- 

 mother :" she is always wingless. Soon after reaching ma- 

 turity she commences to give birth to living young, con- 

 tinuing the process for several days. These young resemble 

 the stem-mother in general appearance, being, of course, 

 much smaller. Each soon begins sucking sap on her own 

 account, and in the course of ten days or a fortnight be- 

 comes mature and commences to bring other living aphides 

 into the world ; the latter soon mature and give birth to a 



