96 
OPERATIONS FOR MAY. 
spicuous, but withal glossy and of a dark-brown colour. The young are flat, of a pale orang 
colour and semi-transparent, and are also active, like those of the Small White Seal, 
( Aspidiotus Nerii). 
The Small Brown Scale ( Aspidiotus Proteus ). A very minute species of Brown Scale, of a! 
oval form, and very prevalent in hothouses. 
The Mealy Bug ( Trichocorys [ Coccus ] adonidum). This species is larger than any of the pr< 
viously mentioned kinds, when full grown it is more than twice the size of C. hesperidum, and is a 
universal depredator ; for although it prefers plants with hard wood and shining leaves, yet it wi 
attack those with every description of habit. The body of this kind when divested of its wool! 
appendages, is of a dull crimson colour, not much unlike the cochineal, ( Coccus cacti,) but vei 
inferior in brilliancy ; it is marked across with several lines, which distinguish the number ( 
segments ; and the whole is thickly covered with a short white down, not much unlike that of th 
American Blight, (Eriosoma mali ,) only much shorter. It is not so sluggish as the previousl 
mentioned species of scale, but may often when grown to a large size be seen crawling from on 
situation on the plant to another. In the autumn the female having grown to her full size, select 
a situation where she may pass unmolested through the winter, and deposit her numerous eggi 
This is always on the stems or branches of the infested plants, and never on the leaves ; in thi 
situation, she forms a large, deep brown, oval shield, glossy, and usually as nearly the colour of th 
stem on which it is seated as to remain easily unnoticed by any except a practised eye. Beneat 
this shield her eggs are deposited, and remain securely covered, and the young also remain ther 
for some time after they are hatched. In the following February or March, according to the tempers 
ture kept in the house, the young having become much increased in size and the parent being deac 
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, separat 
from each other, and establish themselves upon the different plants in the immediat 
neighbourhood. 
The Olive-coloured Aphis ( Aphis Cassia). As general depredators, perhaps no insects ar 
more injurious than Aphides, nearly every species of plant, whether exotic or native, being in ; 
greater or less degree infested with them at one time or other ; and it has been thought by man; 
persons that every genus of plants has its peculiar species of Aphis. The present subject feed 
upon all the tender kinds of Cassia , Mimosa, See., chiefly selecting such as have small am 
tender foliage, as Mimosa , Tamarindus , Poinciana , See. Whether this species of aphis is a nativ 
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 dr; 
atmosphere, and is now so common an inhabitant of our stoves that few either large or smal 
collections are without them. The males have four long transparent wings, but the females ar* 
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 car us telarius). Nearly all kinds of plants, and even the food we eat, are, at on< 
time or other, infested with some species of mite, and so are nearly all animals with which we an 
acquainted. The A. telarius is a common pest to our plants and appears to equally multiply a 
all seasons of the year, if the temperature and other circumstances be suitable. The females la; 
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 thickl; 
all over the leaves, as may be seen with a good microscope. In eight or nine days the eggs an 
hatched, and the young begin to move about upon the leaves. They are at first remarkably smal 
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 darl 
brown and slightly hairy. From the time they issue from the egg until they are full grown, the; 
cast their skins several times, becoming each time something darker in colour, but in other respect* 
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 th< 
leaves, shelter the young from the effects of moisture, which would soon prove fatal. 
