114 
AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
ao-ain splits and the perfect lady-bird emerges, furnished at first with 
gol't wiims, but which afterwards harden, and serve to transport it tc 
the distant colonies of cotton-lice, in the midst of which the eggs aie 
ao-ain denosited to form new broods for the destruction of the plant- 
ers’ oreate'st pest. The perfect lady-bird also devours aphides, but 
not in such numbers as their larvae, in which state it aiso destroys the 
chrysalis of the butterfly, (Argynms columlnna,) seen so 
cotton-fields. I have repeatedly observed them m Geor gia killing the 
chrysalides of this butterfly, which hung suspended from the fenc^ 
rails and on the under side of the boughs of trees and shrubs. It 
appears to attack the chrysalis chiefly when soft, and just emerged 
from the caterpillar-skin. It is in this state that these wandering 
larvae attack it, and, biting a hole in the skin, feed greedily upon the 
green juice which exudes from the wound Sometimes i liow evei it 
becomes a victim to its own rapacity ; for the juice of ^ dirysahs, 
drying up by the heat of the sun, quickly forms an adhesive sub 
stance" in which the larva is caught, and thus detamed until it pcr- 
ishes. Indeed, so very voracious are these larvae, that they will even 
devour the defenceless pupae of their own species, when found adher- 
m Man}^ plantersimagine that these lady-birds are in some mysterious 
manner connected with the appearane^ . of the cottondouseoreven 
that they are the progenitors of the aphis itself. T his enoneous 1 m 
pressionls formed 1 in consequence of these insects being alwaysfound 
In similar situations at the same time, and abounding on piants al^ 
ready weakened by the attacks of the cotton-louse Then sudden 
disappearance is also accounted for, as, with the de. crease of then 
natural food, the lady-birds also disappear and migrate to > nei 0 hhor g 
plantations, in search of a fresh supply of nutriment I have aetuall/ 
known several planters who have caused them to he destroyed by then- 
field hands, when and wherever found, and who complained ^at their 
plants were still destroyed by the aphis, or cotton-iouse. This was 
only to be expected, as they had destroyed the natural enemy of the 
louse, and suffered the pests themselves to breed in peace and ^safety. 
I have seen the larvae of the lady-bird as late as the .18th of Novem 
her in Georgia, still busy exterminating the aphis. The yello , 
oleaginous fluid, which is emitted by this insect when handled lias a 
powerful and disagreeable odor, and is mentioned by Westwood , ™ 
his “Modern Classification of Insects,’ as having been recommended 
as a specific for the tooth-ache. . . . . 
It may be remarked, however, that there is a much larger species 
of this insect which does considerable damage to the ^aves of cucum- 
bers, melons, squashes, &c., as both larval and I*e^ ;nsect devom 
the leaves and eat holes in them, so as sometimes totally to disfi^u 
^The perfect insect measures nearly half an inch in , le “ gt .g’ J^the 
of a yellow color, with twelve large and small black spots on 
wing-Iases, and four small black spots on the thorax; it can be very 
easily distinguished, however, from its beneficial congener both by 
size and color, the useful lady-bird being only about the sixth or the 
seventh of an inch in length, and of a bright-red, or almost scarlet 
