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OPERATIONS FOR MAY. 
spicuous, but withal glossy and of a dark-brown colour. The young are flat, of a pale orange 
colour and semi-transparent, and are also active, like those of the Small White Scale, 
(Aspidiotus Nerii). 
The Small Browr Scale {Aspidiotus Proteus). A very minute species of Brown Scale, of an 
oval form, and very prevalent in hothouses. 
The Mealy Bug (Trichocorys [Coccus] adonidum). This species is larger than any of the pre- 
viously mentioned kinds, when full grown it is more than twice the size of C. hesperidum, and is an 
universal depredator ; for although it prefers plants with hard wood and shining leaves, yet it will 
attack those with every description of habit. The body of this kind when divested of its woolly 
appendages, is of a dull crimson colour, not much unlike the cochineal, (Coccus cacti,) but very 
inferior in brilliancy ; it is marked across with several lines, which distinguish the number of 
segments ; and the whole is thickly covered with a short white down, not much unlike that of the 
American Blight, (Eriosoma mali,) only much shorter. It is not so sluggish as the previously 
mentioned species of scale, but may often when grown to a large size be seen crawling from one 
situation on the plant to another. In the autumn the female having grown to her full size, selects 
a situation where she may pass unmolested through the winter, and deposit her numerous eggs. 
This is always on the stems or branches of the infested plants, and never on the leaves ; in this 
situation, she forms a large, deep brown, oval shield, glossy, and usually as nearly the colour of the 
stem on which it is seated as to remain easily unnoticed by any except a practised eye. Beneath 
this shield her eggs are deposited, and remain securely covered, and the young also remain there 
for some time after they are hatched. In the following February or March, according to the tempera- 
ture kept in the house, the young having become much increased in size and the parent being dead, 
the shield is partially raised, and the young are observed enveloped in a thick cottony covering ; 
and in the course of a week or two afterwards, they quit their protection of the shield, separate 
from each other, and establish themselves upon the different plants in the immediate 
neighbourhood. 
The Olive-coloured Aphis (Aphis Cassia). As general depredators, perhaps no insects are 
more injurious than Aphides, nearly every species of plant, whether exotic or native, being in a 
greater or less degree infested with them at one time or other ; and it has been thought by many 
persons that every genus of plants has its peculiar species of Aphis. The present subject feeds 
upon all the tender kinds of Cassia, Mimosa, &c, chiefly selecting such as have small and 
tender foliage, as Mimosa, Tamarindus, Poinciana, &c. Whether this species of aphis is a native 
of India, and was originally introduced to these countries along with tropical plants is unknown, 
but it is evidently unable to bear much cold, and thrives with the greatest rapidity in a hot dry 
atmosphere, and is now so common an inhabitant of our stoves that few either large or small 
collections are without them. The males have four long transparent wings, but the females are 
wingless. The colour is a dark olive green whilst young, but as they advance in age they become 
nearly black. They increase rapidly, and soon cause the leaflets to become sickly and die. 
Red Spider (A cams telarius). Nearly all kinds of plants, and even the food we eat, are, at one 
time or other, infested with some species of mite, and so are nearly all animals with which we are 
acquainted. The A. telarius is a common pest to our plants and appears to equally multiply at 
all seasons of the year, if the temperature and other circumstances be suitable. The females lay 
their eggs generally on the backs of the leaves, because there they are sheltered from intense light. 
The eggs are very minute, of a whitish colour, and not collected in masses, but scattered thickly 
all over the leaves, as may be seen with a good microscope. In eight or nine days the eggs are 
hatched, and the young begin to move about upon the leaves. They are at first remarkably small 
and colourless, but of the same form as the parents. As they advance in growth they become 
more red ; when half-grown they are very active, and when arrived at their full size, are dark 
brown and slightly hairy. From the time they issue from the egg until they are full grown, they 
cast their skins several times, becoming each time something darker in colour, but in other respects 
changing little except in size. They construct for themselves close silken webs, by which they 
travel from one leaf to another ; these webs also being closely woven on the under sides of the 
leaves, shelter the young from the effects of moisture, which would soon prove fatal. 
