Annual Report of Ne ft York 
504 
Thus each family constructs of one of the leaves a house, a four¬ 
sided room, for its residence, in which it dwells wholly hid from 
view, sheltered from the rains, and secure from molestation by birds 
or other enemies. Although there were several thousands of these 
black lice upon the bush, their presence would not be suspected ; not 
one of them being anywhere visible, so effectually had they secreted 
themselves in their domicils. 
Occupying the cavity of each of these folded leaves were a multi¬ 
tude of young lice, a number of pupae, several wingless females, and 
usually two or three winged females which had newly acquired their 
wings. No winged lice except those that were newly hatched were 
met with. And the pupae being so plenty, it was evident that it was 
their habit on acquiring wings to withdraw from the maternal roof 
and fly away to establish themselves elsewhere. Ants also, usually 
two in number, were in the cavity of each leaf. 
Aware that these lice would probably very soon become so multi¬ 
plied as to arrest the growth of the bush and make it puny and 
feeble, as they were so protected that no remedy applied to the leaves 
would reach them, I picked off the folded leaves, dropped them 
together on the ground, and trampled to death the vermin they con¬ 
tained, leaving only a few infested leaves from which to learn their 
further history. 
Supposing them checked from increasing to become injurious, it 
was the first of June when I again went to inspect this bush and its 
parasites. The rapidity with which the few I had left up>on the bush 
had multiplied, was astonishing. They no longer attempted to hide 
themselves by closing the leaves around them. The green succulent 
ends of the limbs, along their under sides, were crowded with these 
black lice, covering them about half way around, leaving the upper 
side vacant. The young leaves at the ends of these limbs were cor¬ 
rugated together and contracted into little tufts. The larger leaves 
growing farther down upon the limbs, had the midveins on their 
under sides occupied by numbers of the lice; and several of these 
leaves were either rolled or coiled and distorted; but none of them 
were now drawn regularly together to form a closed box or bag, as 
they were a fortnight before. Others of the leaves being older and 
of a more firm and rigid texture, were not at all wrinkled or dis¬ 
torted by the cluster of lice on their midveins. All the lice were 
fixed and stationary in one or the other of the two situations now 
mentioned, the under side of the young green twigs at the ends of the 
limbs, and the mid veins on the under side of the leaves. 
