THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST 



than is the Yellow race; it also teaches 

 that the Japanese are members of the 

 Yellow race; and it also teaches, from 

 zoological analogy, that there is a 

 struggle for existence between races ; 

 if these factors arc true, there is in- 

 deed a Yellow peril. 



It is always true that whatever 

 affects a part of a whole affects the 

 whole. Should Japan be victorious 

 in the present war with Russia, it 

 would shed lustre on the whole Yellow 

 race ; and the defeat of Russia would 

 inevitably result, to what an extent 

 no man can tell, in a lowering of the 

 whole White race. 



The Aphis Fly. 



By Morris Gibbs, M.D., Kalamazoo, Hich. 



A constant and most entertaining 

 little friend is the Aphis Fly. Nearly 

 all flower lovers have a well grounded 

 grudge against this small insect, and 

 the young are killed by the million 

 every year. Yet, nevertheless, like 

 the poor it is always with us, and you 

 might as well attempt to kill off the 

 last so-called English Sparrow as to 

 eradicate this little pest from the house 

 plants. The little fellows may be 

 seen running and flying about at all 

 seasons of the year, and as well in the 

 coldest weather as in the season of 

 sunshine. They are of perpetual in- 

 terest to me, and a few lines may be 

 of interest to the readers of your paper. 



My study window faces the east. 

 It is a bow window, and in the colder 

 mouths is adorned with maii3' pots of 

 plants which rest on shelves and 

 brackets. There are begonias, helio- 

 tropes, fuchsias, and a number of 

 scrub shoots of decidedly uncertain 

 promise, and which are not to be 

 identified from appearances. The 

 Aphis flies, which are known as plant 

 lice, are very common about this in- 

 door collection of plants, and may 

 be seen flying or feeding throughout the 

 winter months. To those who only 

 recognize the species as a small plump 

 green "bug" on the leaves and stems 



of plants, the mature form, or fly, 

 which is a delicate, graceful little in- 

 sect would prove a revelation. It is 

 a ffy, so small that it would rake 

 twenty-five or so to equal the weight 

 of a Jiou.se fly. These little gauzy- 

 winged creatures are with us through- 

 out the winter and thrive in the cold- 

 est weather, and have been repeatedly 

 seen flying about in the morning when 

 the temperature of the room was as 

 low as forty degrees in the cold days 

 of January. The fly is as lively at 

 night as in the day time and it is not 

 rare for them to alight on the page of 

 the book when one is reading by arti- 

 ficial light. 



Plant lice thrive on all kinds of 

 delicate and tender plants but have 

 their preferences, and strangely enough 

 the especial object of their attacks is 

 the Nicotiana, a member of the same 

 genus embracing the tobacco, and 

 having like it the rank taste and prop- 

 erties. Tobacco smoke will destroy 

 the aphis, so that we may draw the 

 conclusion that smoking is more deadly 

 by far than chewing, reasoning from 

 the case in hand. 



The Aphis fly illustrates that un- 

 usual condition in animal life known 

 as partfienogenesis, in which in this 

 species there are nine successive gen- 

 erations of prolific females to every 

 generation of winged or mature form 

 ot insect. This is asserted by investi- 

 gators, and though I have not satisfied 

 myself of the exact number of wingless 

 generations, the peculiarity is evident. 



Wnen the full-grown form of the 

 immature stage of the insect is ready 

 to perform its metamorphosis, it de- 

 scends from the plant and enters the 

 grouud where in varying periods ac- 

 cording to the temperature it changes 

 from a fat green or brown plant louse 

 to a graceful active, fly. This change 

 is often performed in the middle of 

 winter, and I was once so fortunate 

 as to witness the emerging of the fly 

 from the cold ground in the month of 

 February. When the tiny flv threw 



