192 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



does so much mischief in Germany, that the author 

 of an old book of gardening, after giving a figure of 

 it, exclaims, " Happy are the places where this pest is 

 unknown ! " 



The Jlotvers and shrubs, that form the ornament of our 

 parterres and pleasure-grounds, seem less exposed to 

 insect depredation than the produce of the kitchen-gar- 

 den ; yet still there are not a few that suffer from it. 

 The foliage of one of our greatest favourites, the rose, 

 often loses all its loveliness and lustre from the excre- 

 ments of the Aphides that prey upon it. The leaf-cut- 

 ter bee also [Apis centuncularis, L.), by cutting pieces out 

 to form for its young its cells of curious construction, 

 disfigures it considerably; and the froth Cicada (C. spu- 

 maria, L.) aided by the saw-fly of the rose (Tenihredo 

 Rosce, L.) contributes to check the luxuriance of its 

 growth, and to diminish the splendour of its beauty. — - 

 Reaumur has given the history of a fly (Eristalis Nar- 

 cissi) whose larva feeds in safety within the bulbs of the 

 Narcissus, and destroys them; and also of another, 

 though he neglects to describe the species, which tar- 

 nishes the gay parterre of the florist, whose delight is 

 to observe the freaks of nature exhibited in the various 

 many-coloured streaks which diversify the blossom of 

 the tulip, by devouring its bulbs a . — Ray notices another 

 mentioned by Swammerdam, probably Bibio hortulana, 

 Latr., which he calls the deadliest enemy of the flowers 

 of the spring. He accuses it of despoiling the gardens 

 and fields of every blossom, and so extinguishing the 

 hope of the year b . But you must not take up a preju- 

 dice against an innocent creature, even under the war- 

 a Reaum. iv. 499. » Rai. Hist. Ins. Proleeom. xi. 



