STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
845 
APHIS. COCCINELLA LARVAi WILL MOT APPROACH ANTS. 
hungry larva of the Coccinella, hut it did not notice it in the 
least." I then introduced to it an aphis from the stem of a poplar 
leaf. It brought its mouth to this for an instant only, and then 
turned away from it, and the aphis happening to crawl upon its 
body annoyed it .extremely, causing it to writhe and roll itself 
over to crowd the intruder off. I then let it walk out of its 
prison upon a poplar leaf having a colony of these lice upon its 
stem, over which it would be obliged to pass to go elsewhere. 
In approaching them it encountered a very small ant, the same 
species, I think, which I described in my First Report under the 
name Myrmica Cerasi , which was attending these lice, and there¬ 
upon it precipitately dropped itself from the leal. I replaced it 
on the leaf and had the same result a second time. I he ant did 
not appear to attack it, but its mere proximity seemed to be 
intolerably repulsive to this larva. And I doubt not it was the 
pungent odor which I have heretofore spoken ot as being gi\en 
out by this ant, and which odor it imparts to particular colonies 
of plant lice, thereby so marking them as its own property that 
other insects thenceforth avoid them, that made this ant and the 
lice it was attending, so annoying to this larva. I next intro¬ 
duced to it a cabbage louse. This it immediately clasped and 
commenced eating with evident satisfaction. And as these lice 
were becoming common on the cabbages in my garden, I now 
turned this larva out among them to forage tor itseli, bringing 
others from the fields also to accompany it, whereby I am assured 
my cabbages will soon be rid of thfl vermin upon them. 
When this larva of the lady bird is fully grown and ready to 
change to a pupa, it seeks a situation where it will be least liable 
to be disturbed by the aphis or any other insect or worm crawl¬ 
ing about or upon it while it remains reposing in this state. It 
sometimes selects the under side of a leaf of the grain, but more 
frequently it wanders off to some weed growing among the grain. 
Thus it often resorts to that vilest of all weeds, the toad-flax or 
“butter and eggs,” (Lin aria vulgaris ), if this chances to be scat¬ 
tered among the grain; as though the intelligent little creature 
had observed the same fact which I have publicly stated, that in 
this country no insect or worm occurs upon this weed. Some ot 
my neighbors being aware that I had thus stated, have brought 
this weed to me with this pupa attached to it, that I might see 
whether it were not an insect that belonged upon it. 
