I860.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
81 
.m this division of the natural kingdom ; for here 
the naturalist finds the very singular anomaly of 
a creature at one time producing young from the 
egg, as well as the perfect insect at other times, and 
without impregnation —“ even to the ninth genera¬ 
tion says Bonnet (a great naturalist of Gene¬ 
va), who, after much patience and care, discov¬ 
ered this extraordinary fact. He transmitted the 
results of his experiments to .Reaumur, at Paris, 
who announced them to the Academy. A great 
sensation was produced among the savans, at 
least among those skilled in this branch of natur¬ 
al history. At the unanimous request of the 
members of this Institution, the most eminent 
living naturalists at that time were requested to 
follow up this marvelous statement. According¬ 
ly, Bazin of Strasburg, Lyonnet and Trembley 
residing at the Hague, Bonnet himself at Geneva, 
and Reaumur in Paris, undertook each separately 
their own experiments, which were eminently 
successful upon the louse of the rose, of the poppy, 
of the elder, and of the willow, (Aphis rosce, A. 
papaveris, A. samliici, A. salicis.) The account 
is too long for extracting, but the result was 
completely proved, and entirely satisfactory to 
every one. Bonnet, in pursuing his experiments 
farther, “ secluded an individual Aphis at the mo¬ 
ment of its birth, then her progeny, and so on 
successively, until he saw the fifth generation 
produced without any intermediate pairing.” 
I have been successful up to the thirtieth 
generation, and then gave up counting from weari¬ 
ness. In December I placed one Aphis rosae, just 
brought forth, on a plant of the Cuphea platicen- 
are no males to be found, except towards the 
Fall. This is a beautiful provision of our Creator; 
Fig 5.—The first Ecdysis, or changing of skin—The 
young Aphis’ skin. 
tea (they are very indifferent what plant they live 
on,) which was free from insects and healthy. 
It was in four months literally imbedded in these 
mites, with not a healthy leaf upon it, and not a 
male among them all. It is still more extraor¬ 
dinary, that towards the Fall the females lay 
eggs ; these hatch in six or nine days—these 
insects, after undergoing four moultings, come 
out at the last winged. They now pair on the 
wing, and the subsequent generations proceed as 
represented above, giving birth to young, which 
in their turn become parents in forty hours ! 
Another singular fact is, that after a female 
has paired, she is no longer viviparous, (that is, 
produces no more living young,) but deposits 
eggs. There is no doubt that Aphides breed with¬ 
out pairing, and never pair except when winged. 
Several entomologists maintained they pair before 
being brought forth, but this was proved er¬ 
roneous by Reaumur, Bonnet, and others, for there 
Fig. 6.—The appearance of the Aphis before the last 
change takes place— K, The wing-cases—the green 
shade being much darker than the abdomen. 
the eggs can stand any amount of cold or heat, 
whereas the little pulpy tender creatures are 
easily killed. Therefore, to secure the certainty 
and safety of the species, and guard against any 
emergency, the egg, on the approach of Winter, 
is substituted for the living insect, and those in¬ 
sects which are dependent upon them as food, are 
provided for, without fail, by the high and bene¬ 
ficent Power, ever watching over and protecting 
all His creatures, even the most insignificant. 
If you examine the insect in fig. 4, 
you will perceive two small tubes, 
G, at the end of the body. These 
are the honey tubes. If you watch 
an insect under a magnifier, you will 
perceive that, as fast as it imbibes 
the juice of the leaf, it ejects a drop 
of clear sweet liquid from each tube, 
which is greedily devoured by the 
very young, who have not strength 
to puncture for themselves (unless 
the leaves are very tender,) until after their first 
moulting. Their antennae are always laid flat on 
their backs during the time they are sucking. 
Ants are exceedingly fond of this saccharine 
liquid, and, strange as it may seem, they actually 
carry off the eggs of these Aphides, to rear 
them in their own nests, for the purpose of ob- 
with their antennae, evidently soliciting them to 
discharge this luxury for their accommodation. 
These little creatures most good-naturedly at¬ 
tend to their wants, and hungry ants can be seen 
traveling up to make their solicitations, while 
those who have gorged themselves are slowly 
descending on the other side. They live togeth¬ 
er in great harmony on a leaf, seeming to mutu¬ 
ally like such companionship amazingly. I have 
known the ant after a while to become positively 
lazy and indifferent to work, and remain all day, 
sometimes weeks, reveling in his newly discov¬ 
ered Capua. Every one execrates these little 
torments, but they have their place in creation, 
and would leave a great blank if exterminated. 
When at maturity they compose the food of al¬ 
most every insect of the beetle and bug families. 
Many birds exist on them, and they are also use¬ 
ful in keeping down too luxuriant vegetation. 
The best remedy for keeping them subdued is 
to sift very fine wood ashes (dry) over the plant, 
also on the under side by holding the earth and 
the plant in the pot firmly, and turning it upside 
down. In time, the leaves absorb the strong al¬ 
kaline qualities of the ashes, not only strength¬ 
ening and improving the plant, but also rendering 
its sap totally unpalatable to the Aphides. Then 
again, they have no power to scramble over such 
mountains as grains of ashes, and their suckers 
are not capable of penetrating such brick work; 
consequently they soon die and the plant is sel¬ 
dom or ever touched by them again. If the dead 
leaves of the orchard were all raked away and 
covered with lime before the Winter sets in every 
year, we should hear fewer complaints of de¬ 
struction by insects, and the manure beds would 
be greatly enriched. Nature provides food for 
all her children with a very prodigal hand, and 
man must learn to protect himself by investiga¬ 
ting her unalterable laws, and studying the 
Fig. 7.—The last Ecdysis, or change ot skin, when it 
emerges the perfect winged insect, as seen in fig. 1. 
taining this beverage. Any fine Summer day you 
may see the ants standing beside the Aphides on 
pear and apple trees, soothing and coaxing them 
forces operating for and against him, feeling as¬ 
sured a strong and powerful hand is guiding all 
things to work for his best good, eventually. 
- ■*> ----- 
Wash for Fruit Trees—Insects. 
Doubtless, if the soil in which our trees stand 
were well drained, enriched, and tilled, there 
would be little need of washing the trunks and 
branches. For this would keep them in such vig¬ 
or that they would look quite fresh and healthy. 
And let it be remembered that no scraping and 
scrubbing will answer as a substitute for other 
good management. Yet there are insects infest¬ 
ing most fruit-trees which need an occasional 
good dose of potash or tobacco to keep them 
humble. One of these is the Woolly Aphis —a 
small fellow, with a sort of downy substance cov¬ 
ering and concealing his body, and which acts as 
a parachute to float him about from tree to tree, 
when he wishes to travel. He infests both root 
and branch, feeding on the sap of the inner 
bark, which he punctures in order to extract his 
food. He has a special liking for old, rough-barked 
trees, as their crevices afford good hiding places. 
There is also the Scaly Aphis, or Bark Louse. 
This is a dark brown, scaly insect, which has a 
