106 
TURNIP-APHIS. 
which is above the ground, and the gmh which comes 
from it eats into the rind of the turnip, making it hump up 
in warts and all manner of rugosities, and causing the 
whole bulb to become woolly, and distasteful to sheep and 
cows. This little and most insidious enemy has escaped 
the notice both of naturalists and farmers, first, because it 
is so small, and secondly, because its ravages do not cause 
any diminution in the quantity of either the leaf or bulb. 
The caterpillar of a large moth, which may be called the 
Turnip-Moth, does the crop an incredible injury in some 
seasons, by eating the crown of the plant just where the 
leaves grow out from the bulb : this it does only in the 
night, living in a burrow of its own by day. This caterpil- 
lar is the more injurious because its labours begin after the 
turnips have been finally thinned out by hoeing, and each 
left at the exact distance from the rest which it is designed 
to occupy. I know of no remedy. Lastly, the Turnip- 
Aphis. There is no plant without its plant-louse or Aphis, 
and the turnip is no exception to the general rule. This 
is, however, the least troublesome of its enemies ; for the 
plant-lice attack the turnip when in full vigour and make 
but little impression on it. 
Plant-lice, I have said, are everywhere. I have to-day, 
[August 15, 1835], cut open codHng after codling, and 
found the pips garrisoned with them; not one lone Aphis, 
but a whole troop, of all sizes. When I let in the day- 
light there was a considerable sprawling and waving of 
legs, and no small alarm in the hive, but by degrees they 
got used to light and fresh air, and were quite still. I 
tried to tickle them with a straw, in order again to watch 
their movements ; when lo and behold, they were all dead, 
— gathered to their fathers, — gone to the tomb of all the 
