362 
New York State Agricvltvral Society. 
or six joints, the last joint being longer than those preceding it, and 
blunt at its apex. 
The young lice , measuring hut 0.02 in length, are very pale yellow, glossy and 
watery, with the legs and antennae whitish. They are nearly thrice as long as broad, 
somewhat flattened, their opposite sides parallel in some, in others slightly widening 
backward and rounded at the tip. The transverse sutures are faintly perceptible. 
The eyes appear as minute black dots, one on each side of the anterior end. The 
antenna; are thread like, and only one-fourth the length of the body. When highly 
magnified, they appear to be four-jointed, the joints twice as long as thick, the first 
joint cylindrical, the two following ones thicker toward their tips, and the last one 
slightly longer than the others, and thickest toward its base. The feet are but 
one-jointed, half as long as the shanks, and end in a pair of hooks. 
The mature lice are 0.08 long, their width less than half their length, some being 
much more broad than others. They are oval, and of a dull white color, with tho 
legs antenna; and beak dusky, sometimes pale smoky with their bases nearly white, 
and in other specimens much darker and even blackish their entire length, with the 
end of the body also slightly durfky. The beak is appressed to the breast, appearing 
like a short dusky mark upon the skin, its tip scarcely reaching the base of the second 
pair of legs. The antenna; arc shorter and more slender than the fore legs, thread¬ 
like and five-jointed, the joints cylindric. The two basal joints are slightly thicker 
than the following ones, and their length double their thickness. The third joint is 
variable in its length, in the mature females being almost double the length of the 
second, and but little shorter than the last joint, whilst in the narrower younger lice 
it is little, if at all, longer than the second. The fourth joint is the shortest of all, 
being but little longer than thick. The last joint is longest, and is bluntly rounded 
at its end. The sutures of the body are marked by slender impressed transverse 
lines. The feet show but one distinct joint, which is cylindrical, and four times as 
long as thick in the hind pair, shorter in the middle and anterior pair, with two 
hooks at the end. 
The lettuce is such a thrifty, vigorous plant, that it docs not appear 
to be perceptibly injured, however much its roots are thronged by 
these earth lice. Other vegetation which is more delicate and feeble 
has not a like immunity. Dr. Harris relates that upon pulling up 
China asters which appeared to be perishing from no visible cause, he 
found hundreds of these little white lice clustered upon the roots. Mr. 
Newcomb, of Pittstown, N. Y., informed me a few years since that 
little white lice gathered upon his verbenas, in some instances in such 
numbers as to completely cover the roots, causing the plants to droop 
and wither and turn yellowish, and when felt of they seemed loosened 
and not set firmly in the ground. lie found tobacco-water to be an 
effectual remedy for these insects. By watering the earth around the 
plants freely with this decoction, he was able to promptly arrest the 
evil, and none of his plants died, as they inevitably would have done 
had they been neglected. 
In addition to the ants, there occurred among these earth-lice 
