PLANT LICE 



process may be completed in a few minutes, or it may 

 take as long as half an hour, but if the feeble creature 

 should be unable to free itself at last from the drying and 

 contracting tissue, it remains a captive struggling in the 

 grip of its embryonic vestment until it expires. The 

 young aphid successfully delivered takes a few uncertain, 

 staggering steps on its weak and colorless legs, and then 

 complacently rests awhile; but after about twenty min- 



Fic. 94. Young aphids on apple buds in spring 



utes or half an hour it is able to walk in proper insect 

 fashion, and it proceeds upward on its twig, a course 

 sure eventually to lead it to a bud. 



While the aphid eggs are hatching, or shortly there- 

 alter, the apple buds are opening and unfolding their 

 delicate, pale-green leaves, and from everywhere now 

 the young aphids come swarming upon them, till the tips 

 are often blackened by their numbers (Fig. 94). The 

 hungry horde plunges into the hearts of the buds, and 

 soon the new leaves are punctured with tiny beaks that 

 rob them of their food; and the young foliage, upon which 



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