45 



that an unskilled observer would scarcely imagine that the four varieties in Fig. 33 were one 

 and the same species. It has fifteen black spots on its brownish wing-covers. 



Chilocorus himlnerus is commonly called the twice stabbed lady-bird ; it is a highly po- 

 lished black beetle, with two yellow spots. It is very obese. 



Perhaps the most simple plan by which to enumerate the benefits arising from the ex- 

 istence of the lady-birds, will be to take seriatim the insects upon which they are known to 

 feed : we will begin first with the 



Aphidce or plant-lice. — As is well known, many of our fruit trees and flowering plants 

 are sometimes seriously injured by the work of the minute and innumerable plant-lice. The 

 hop is subject to the attacks of the hop aphis {Aphis humuli, Curtis) and so great is the ruin 

 caused, that Kirby and Spence state, in speaking of its ravages in England, " The hod 

 grower is wholly at the mercy of these insects ; they are the barometer that indicates the risa 

 and fall of his wealth, as well as of a very important branch of the revenue — the difference in 

 the amount of duty on hops being often as much as £200,000 per annum, more or less, in pro- 

 portion as the fly prevails or the contrary." In this country, fortunately, the ravages of this 

 Aphis do not appear to have been as serious, although many an acre of fine healthy hop plants 

 have been scoured by these creatures, causing entire loss. 



Wheat, oats and other grain are frequently attacked by the grain aphis (Aphis avejise 

 Fabr.) an insect pest introduced into this country from Europe. The cherry-tree suffers 

 from the Aphis cerasi ; the apple-tree from the Aphis raali on its tender leaves, and the 

 Eriosoma pyri at its roots; the currant bushes from Aphis rihis ; the cabbage from Aphis 

 brassica. Besides these, and many other plants living out of doors, conservatory and hot- 

 house plants do not escape the ravages of plant-lice. 



It is the enormous rate of increase of these tiny creatures that surprises all who have 

 had the care of plants ; and which renders all artificial remedies of little value except in nar- 

 row limits. We may have an idea of the enormous fecundity of these creatures from a 

 calculation by Curtis, a celebrated English entomologist, who computed that from one egg 

 only, there would be produced in seven generations, taking thirty as the average of each brood, 

 the enormous number of seven hundred and twenty-nine millions, so that were all permitted 

 to live, everything on the face of the earth would in a short time be covered with them. 



Before this inconceivable increase artificial remedies would avail little, but fortunately 

 the natural enemies of the aphidae are legion, and among the most valuable of these are our 

 pretty little Lady Birds. As we have seen before, the female Lady Bird places its eggs among 

 the plant-lice, and the larvae as they grow live upon them, devouring great numbers. 



Dr. Fitch relates an amusing story of a mic^take which was made by one of his neighbours, 

 whose rose-bushes were grievously invested by plant-lice. He complained, we are informed, to 

 the doctor, that although he took the greatest pains to go over the infested bushes every 

 morning and destroy all the " old ones," yet that his bushes were ten times as badly injured 

 by plant-lice as those of his neighbours, who took no pains at all to war upon the enemy. 

 On examination it turned out, that the worthy gentleman had occupied every morning in 

 killing off all the Lady Bird larvae that he could find, supposing that these were the mothers 

 of the plant-lice, and that he should thus nip the evil in the bud. In other words, he had 

 fired into the ranks of his best friends, and allowed his enemies to march where they would, 

 and increase and multiply at discretion. 



We hope none of our readers may make the same mistake, but will cherish the presence 

 of these little beetles among their favourite plants. 



The next insect pest preyed upon by our friends is that terrible scourge of grain growers, 



The Chinch Bug. — This voracious creature, known to entomologists as Micropus leuco- 

 pieruSf Say, is perhaps more dreaded by grain-growers throughout America than any other of 

 the insect enemies he has to fight against, because its work of destruction is complete. From 

 Riley's Second Annual Report for Aiissouri we learn that four species of Lady Birds are known 

 to feed on Chinch Bugs, these four are Coccinellcc miuida, Hippodamia maculata, and two 

 species of the genus Scijnmus. In this report Dr. Shimer records that in a particular field 

 of corn, which had been sown thick for fodder, and which was swarming with Chinch Bugs, 

 he found that the spotted Lady Bird {C. raunda) could be counted by hundreds upon every 

 square yard of ground after shaking the corn, but the Chinch Bugs were so numerous that 

 these hosts of enemies made very little perceptible impression among them. Notwithstanding 

 the apparently small amount of good done in some cases, it is the duty of the intelligent 



