Aphides. 



i8i 



the blossoms from their earliest development. It is very 

 destructive to the blossom of certain kinds of apple trees 

 whose leaves are hardly out when the blossom is formed, — 

 as a rule, the blossom of apple trees appears before the leaves 

 are perfectly developed. The aphis attacks the blossoms, 

 which are sweet ; and either prevents fructification, or so 

 attacks the tiny fruitlets, that, weakened by the extraction of 

 their juices, they do not "set" properly. Those that manage 

 to set rarely attain to full size and perfection. As the leaves 

 of the trees come out they are covered with aphides and curl 

 up, become black, and finally fall. 



Apple Aphis [Aphis malt). 



Fore and hind wings ; winged viviparous females, mag. ; oviparous female, mag. 



The winged viviparous female shown above has a light 

 green bod)- with black markings, and wings with peculiar 

 neurations. The egg-laying females are somewhat round in 

 shape, they deposit little black eggs between the folds 

 of the rind near the buds at the end of the summer. These 

 are hatched in the early spring and produce wingless vivi- 

 parous dark green females, called by German entomologists 

 Staminutter, and " adult queen aphides " by Mr. Buckton, 

 from which are produced many generations of lighter green 

 larvae, the main cause of the active injury to the leaves and 

 blossoms. These larvae have long rostra, or suckers, and are 

 covered with fine white powder. It is considered that in 

 some cases, and when the winter season is mild, wingless 

 viviparous larvae hibernate as in the case of the hop aphis. 

 Washing or spraying apple trees is of great benefit if it is 

 done early and well. It not only clears away aphides but at 

 the same time materially checks the winter moth and other 

 allied caterpillars, as well as the apple sucker {Psylla niali)^ 



