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apple chermes lays its eggs in different places of the 

 twigs of an apple-tree ; usually, however, in the fur- 

 rows of the knots, and sometimes in a regular man- 

 ner. The larvae were scarcely escaped from the egg, 

 in the open air, when they hastened to the nearest 

 bud, and began to gnaw its scales, because the bud 

 was only somewhat swollen; and had not begun to 

 sprout. On the second day after their birth they 

 cast their first skin, after which they appeared nearly 

 of their former shape and colour. The second chang- 

 ing of the skin can sometimes be scarcely seen at all, 

 because the larva not only puts out a thicker string 

 with the tubercle, but also an immense number of 

 very fine entangled threads or small hairs, which it 

 turns upwards over its back, and with them entirely 

 covers its body and head. In sunshine, these strings 

 look transparent, as if they were made of glass, and 

 become of a greenish variable colour. Under this 

 screen the chermes are secured from every attack of 

 other insects ; for no ants, mites, or bugs can disturb 

 them in their fortification, or consume them as their 

 prey. After changing the second skin, the young 

 assumed a different colour and form : they now be- 

 came light green all over ; the abdomen was much 

 broader than the thorax, and, on the side of the 

 latter, rudiments of the wings were distinctly seen. 

 The third time of changing the skin comes on in 

 about eight days, sometimes sooner and sometimes 



