170 
BRITISH APHIDES. 
cation. It is believed, however, that hitherto all plans 
and schemes practically have failed, and that the farmer 
will find henceforth his best policy to consist in a 
study of the economy of the Aphis under notice, and in 
a furtherance, as far as may be in his power, of the in- 
crease of some of the natural foes which prey upon it. 
Chief amongst these enemies and checks to such 
superabundant life may be mentioned the numerous 
species of Goccinella, which forms one group of the 
large family of Coleoptera. It would appear that the 
beneficial influence to man exerted by these insects 
has been long and widely recognised. 
The singular popular names given to them through- 
out Europe seem to have reference to the infience of 
a supreme Power, which through them staves off famine 
and preserves vegetation. 
Thus, in Lombardy the popular synonym of our 
English Ladybird is, Bestioline del Signore.’’ In Tus- 
cany it is Madonnine” or Marioline in France it is 
Bete” or Vache a Dieu.” In Germany the name 
is less suggestive, Sonnenkafer.” 
The food of Ooccinella consists almost exclusively of 
Aphides, Their marvellous voracity is shown equally 
in their larval and their winged condition. The former 
stage may be commonly seen throughout early summer 
as slaty-grey or brown six-footed creatures, covered 
with tufted tubercles, and provided with mandibles 
efficient both for holding and sucking out the juices of 
their victims. 
In some years the images are wonderfully numerous, 
and when they take wing, form vast swarms which travel 
great distances. By their sudden appearance in a dis- 
trict they often raise popular astonishment. In the 
year 1869 such a cloud passed over a large part of Kent, 
Sussex, and Surrey ; alighting on the footways of Maid- 
stone, Guildford, and Midhurst, and making it difficult 
to avoid crushing hundreds under foot.^^ 
* The good hop crop of the following year, perhaps, was the conse- 
quence of this prevalence of Ooccinella, 
