> 
73 
ments, and by natural consequence, the dejections become 
greater and more frequent. Aya 
‘These dejections are more rare in autumn. Ihave, however, — 
seen some of them, at the end of October, on chesnuts and 
white oaks, which had already dropped half their leaves: ” i 
Other pucerons, which, in the same time, had been moreex- 
posed to the north wind, scarcely rendered any thing. The 
honey-dew, or dejections of both, dried uselessly on the trees. 
The bees, at that season, preferred the flowers of the ar- 
buste in the vicinage, and neglected the animal honey-dew, — 
that is to say, the dejections of the pucerons. 
Although these insects pierce the whole thickness of the 
bark, in a thousand places, even to the wood, and deprive 
the branches of a part of their nourishment, the tree does 
not seem to feel it, nor do the leaves lose any of their ver-: 
dure. The dart, or sucker, which these pucerons use, is so 
very fine, that it is difficult to distinguish the marks of it on 
the places pierced. ‘They are only gentle bleedings of a body 
in good order and full of humours.* 
These pucerons have the merit, worthy of our attention, 
of being useful to us, inasmuch as, without injuring our 
trees, they compose a diet which honours our tables, and 
' the bees which have the sole charge of preparing or elabo- 
rating it, allow us to partake a share. 
The large black pucerons, which are detested, and which 
the farmers destroy pitilessly,and indiscriminately, with the 
_* These insects are peculiar in their natural history, an account of 
which I have left in the orginal language, for the benefit of the 
learned. 
“©Ce n’est point, comme on voit, l’histoire des pucerons que j’ai 
entrepris de faire. Je n’en ai rapporté que ce qui appartient 4 mon 
sujet- MM. de Réaumur, et Bonnet de Geneve ont exposé dans de 
“savans Mémoires ce que la génération de ces insectes offrait de cu- 
rieux et d’intéressant. On sait en particulier, d’aprés ce dernier, que 
la race puceronne se reproduit non-seulement en suite de Vaccou- 
plement entre les deux sexes; mais ce qui dut alors bien étonner, 
les femelles, dit M. Bonnet, deviennent fécondes sans avoir eu, pen- 
- dant plusieurs générations de mere en fille (car il faut ici changer les 
expressions vulgaires,) sans avoir eu, dis-je, la compagnie du male. 
Ce sont de vrais androgynes; et ils le sont beaucoup plus que les 
limacons qui, ayant chacun les deux sexes a la fois, ne laissent cepen- 
dant pas de s’accoupler réciproquement; et comme si ce n’était pas 
avoir déja poussé la singularité assez loin, il semble qu’il soit indif- 
-férent 4 nos pucerons d’étre ovipares comme les oiseaux, ou vivipares 
comme les quadrupédes. Ils pondent des ceufs dans une saison, et 
mettent bas des petits dans une autre.” ay 
pe tea é 
