PEAB, INSECTS. \0 
body elongate and cylindi-ieal, the segments of the abdomen fornislied with transvei'se rows of minute 
points directed backwards, whereby the insect is enabled to push itself forward, when ready to assume 
the perfect state. The head is also armed with a short hard point, which serves to force a way thr'ough 
the cocoon. Our figure 1 c represents a chrysalis case from which the Moth has cftected its escape by 
a slit down the anterior part of the upper side of the body, and by the head-piece becoming detached. 
The conspicuous appearance of the perfect Moth renders its capture comparatively easy ; indeed, 
the sparrows are here our best allies, as it is (or at least a few years ago was) no uncommon thing to 
find numbers of wings of this insect at the foot of the trees in St. James's Park, the bodies having 
been devoured by the sparrows. 
Fig. II. PsYLLA PYRI. — This very minute insect is very similar in its habits, as it is also closely 
aUied, to the family of the Plant-lice, or Aphides. It belongs to the order Homoptera (or those 
suctorial insects, which have the four wings of a similar consistence), and family PsyUidaj. The perfect 
insect measm'es nearly a quarter of an inch in the expansion of its fore wings. The head and thorax 
are of a greenish yellow or orange-colour, much varied with black markings, and the abdomen is black, 
with Ught margins to the segments ; the antenna; and legs are buff-coloiu-ed, the former black at the tip), 
and the latter with the thighs broadly black at the base. The wings are stained pale yellowish brown, 
with a black patch on the inner margin of the fore ones. Its legs are formed for leajjing, so that it 
is difficult to secure it. It is found in considerable numbers, both in the perfect and imperfect states, 
upon the leaves of the Pear, as well as upon the young shoots and bearing wood, which it injui'es by 
sucking theii' juices, and defiles all over with its excrement. The mouth, or rather the instrument of 
suction, is a short, jointed proboscis, situated at the hind part of the underside of the head, almost in 
the breast ; it is extended perpendicularly from the body, and is terminated by a sharp point, and 
encloses several very delicate setiE, or bristles, which are protruded and withdi-awn at will, and which 
are thrust into the woimd made by the sucker itself. Kollar states, that as soon as the fi-uit trees put 
out buds, the winged Psyllse make their appearance. When paiiing is over, the female lays her eggs 
in great numbers, near each other, on the young leaves and blossoms, or the newlj' formed fruit and 
shoots. They are of a longish shape, and yeUow, and without a magnifying glass, resemble the pollen 
of flowers. They are hatched in a few days, and somewhat resemble the wingless plant-lice, having 
six feet, two antennae, and are of a dark yellow colour ; they are, however, much flatter. They possess 
an instrument of suction similar to that of the perfect insect, and continue active throughout their 
whole life (not undergoing an inactive chrysalis state, like butterflies and moths) ; they cast their 
skin several times, and the pupse resemble the larvfe, except that they have broad flat cases at the sides 
of the body, within which the future wings are developed. The excrement these insects discharge is 
of a saccharine natm-e, like that emitted by the Ajjliides, and the Ants are equally fond of it. When the 
young insects have attained their full growth as pupas, the body gradually assumes a cylindrical form, 
the skin sHts down the back, and the winged insect crawls forth, pale in colour, and weak, but in a 
few days it assumes the rich colours of the species, and, hving tlii'ough the summer, it seeks some 
sheltered spot in the autumn, in which it passes the winter. 
The presence of these insects on a Pear tree, more particularly on young plants, is indicated by its 
imhealthy appearance, the leaves and shoots cm-Ung up, as well as by the presence of great numbers 
of Ants, which come to feast on the secretion of the insects. By repeatedly syringmg the leaves and 
stems with tobacco or lime water, or, better still, with gas- tar water, the young larvse may be destroyed, 
but the plants ought to be searched over in May, and the winged parents destroyed before they have 
deposited their eggs, and the work of destruction has commenced. 
Fig. III. Selandria jethiops. — This insect belongs to the order Hymenoptera, and family of the 
Saw-flies (Tenthredinida;), and is remarkable for the habits which its larva possesses of coveriug 
itself with a black, slimy, strongly scented secretion, giving the insects the appearance of small black 
slugs,* and by eating only the upper sm'face of the leaf, leading the parenchyma, or inner substance, 
as well as the lower cuticle of the leaf untouched. I have, from time to time, received complaints of 
the injmy committed by this species, from correspondents, one of whom described the appearance of a 
tree attacked hj the larva;, as having a very bad rusty appearance, the leaves prematm-ely dropping 
off. It is in the months of July, August, and September, that these insects are found in the lai-va state. 
The perfect insect makes its appearance in Jime, and is of a shining black glossy colour ; the wings 
* In America, indcecl, one of the species of tliis g:cnus, having similar hahits, is known under the name of the Slug-worm, and 
towards the close of the last century it became so prevalent as to threaten the destruction of the Cherry, Pear, Quince, and Plum, all 
of which trees were infested with it, the small trees being covered with insects, and a breeze of air through those on which they 
aboxmded becoming charged with a very disagreeable and sickening odour. Twenty or thu'ty were to be seen on a single leaf, and 
many trees, being quite stripped, were obliged to put forth fresh foliage, thus anticipating the supply of the succeeding year, and 
cutting off the prospect of fruit. (W. D. Peck, Natural History of the Sbig-vorm, Boston, U. S., 1799.) 
