140 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May. 
Microscopic Views of the Insect World III. 
BY MRS. CHARLOTTE TAYLOR. 
the lady-bird — Coccinella Platiccntra. 
Let me now introduce to you one of your great¬ 
est friends. Examine her well, so that she may 
henceforth be known as such, and not classed 
among your enemies, which I am sorry to say is 
often the case. What the dog is to man among 
quadrupeds, faithful and honest, this little lady¬ 
bird is among insects— 
ever near his dwelling, 
always at work in his 
service. She brings the 
first news of the advent 
of Spring, and is one of 
the last to leave us when 
dreary Winter wraps us 
in his mantle of snow. 
She belongs to the 
second family of La- 
treille’s Ooleoptera Tri- 
mera ; so called from 
having only three ordi¬ 
nary joints in the tarse 
or foot, (b, fig. 2); the 
body is convex, and nearly hemispherical; anten¬ 
nae, eleven jointed, rather short, clavate or ter¬ 
minating in a mass like a reversed conical club, (c, 
fig. 3); mandibles (jaws) acute ; thorax short. 
The under-wings, (e, fig. 5), are very much smoked, 
as entomologists say, by which is meant they 
have the appearance of having undergone this 
operation. It is marvelous how they are folded 
up in such a small compass ; the points pass over 
each other as you perceive, (/, fig 1), and under 
the opposite wing case, 
and when expanded, are 
nearly double the length 
of her body, (g, fig. 7). 
It is necessary they 
should be so, as she is so 
solid. There are a num¬ 
ber of varieties; we 
count more than a hun¬ 
dred in this country- 
Some are very prettily 
colored, bright red, yel¬ 
low, and white, with 
black spots, and some¬ 
times black with these 
spots reversed. She and 
her larv-a; (or children) 
feed on the Aphides or 
plant lice alone ; so you may perceive how pre¬ 
cious they should be to us. You will find her 
eggs deposited on the same leaf where those 
of the Aphis are placed. The circle of her bright 
yellow, flat and oval eggs surrounds those of the 
plant louse, (h, fig. 6). They hatch nearly at 
the same time, and if you can not imagine what 
a number of wolves might be in a flock of 6heep, 
place a magnifier over a leaf on which these in¬ 
sects are found, and you will see carnage and 
havoc beyond my describing. It is at this stage, 
(i, fig. 8), that they are most active, and destruc¬ 
tive to the lice. It seems 
impossible for them to 
have a surfeit; their ap¬ 
petite is insatiable. But 
after changing their skins 
F>g. < Mandibles, mug- several times, even they 
nifiel1- must rest for awhile. 
The larva glues itself by the tail to a stem of the 
plant it is on, and gradually contracts itself into a 
pupa. In aday.ormore, according to the weather, 
(hg skin splits, and an ugly, deformed, broken 
Fig. 2—Leg Fig. 3—An- 
and foot, tennae mag- 
magnified. nifiud. 
Fig. 1—a, Coccinella Pla- 
ticentra, (Lady Bird.) 
f, point of the wings. 
backed pupa may be seen 
still secured to the old 
skin, (_?’, fig. 9). It has 
all the rudiments now of 
the mature Lady-Bird— 
wings, and legs—but can 
not move or take nour¬ 
ishment. In a few days 
more, this skin bursts, 
and the perfect Imago 
(winged insect) makes 
its appearance, soft and 
moist, and very black, 
but as the air dries her, 
her wings and bright 
colors come out vividly, and she appears the 
pretty little gem with which Nature adorns her¬ 
self. Her food is the same, she has the same 
propensities, but is rather lazy. She does not 
hunt so eagerly, but places herself in the midst 
of plenty, and enjoys it. You perceive her 
mandibles (d, Fig. 4), are well fitted for her voca¬ 
tion. They act like wedges, and the crushing of 
these soft little bodies is soon accomplished. 
When her prey is exhausted, she moves leisurely 
away to another nursery of her pulpy victims. 
She will live two seasons feeding thus, hyberna- 
ting in some secure corner during the Winter. 
Now is she not a beneficent little Lady-Bird—and 
yet through ignorance, thousands are murdered 
every season. I have here illustrated rather an 
uncommon variety, (a, fig. l,) and have named it 
from the plants whose aphides it feeds on. The 
elytra or outside wings are of 
a bright orange color, with 
the spots black. It came from 
the pupa case early in May last, 
was placed under a glass, and 
fed with the Aphides from the 
plant Cuphea Platicentra, and 
lived happily in company with 
a small black and brown spi¬ 
der, the Epeira Aphites whose 
food is likewise plant lice. It 
was a curiosity to many per¬ 
sons to see the affability and 
apparent friendship existing 
between two insects, which 
one would suppose so very 
uncongenial. They would feed 
at the same time from the same leaf; they could 
often be seen reposing side by side, and the har¬ 
mony and understanding between them was most 
complete. Last October, returning from a walk, 
I brought with me a fine specimen of Spring 
beetle, the Elater Oculatus; being in haste, 
I placed it, for the time, 
under the same glass with 
the friends. I had quite 
forgotten the circum¬ 
stance, and at near bed 
time I went as usual 
to see how my large 
family was thriving, 
when lo ! the poor Lady- 
Bird was swinging at the 
top of the glass, and her 
friend winding her up 
higher and higher. They 
had not been very plen¬ 
tifully supplied that day, 
and I came to the sor¬ 
rowful conclusion, Na¬ 
ture was inexorable, and that here was the end of 
this charming episode. I am ashamed to say 
how grieved I was at such an exhibition, al¬ 
though it was only what might have been ex¬ 
5-Under wing, 
magnified. 
Fig. 6—Leaf with eggs. 
Fig. 8—Larva eating an Aphis. 
Fig. 7—Coccinella (Lady-bird) in the act of flying. 
pected. I hastened to remove the Elater, leaving 
the supposed murderess to finish her repast at 
her leisure. But next morning, the friends were 
as well as ever at the bottom of the glass, wait¬ 
ing for their breakfast, and no doubt quite jolly 
over the fright of the previous night. 
What do you say to this 1 Is it reason or in¬ 
stinct 1 I see in my vocation so many such ex¬ 
hibitions, I fear to give latitude to my convictions, 
therefore 
you must 
draw your 
own con¬ 
clusions. 
The spider 
e v i d e n tlv 
felt, or 
thought, her 
friend was 
in danger, and so lent her aid to raise her out of 
reach of the beetle, and each time a larger in¬ 
sect was placed with them, you would soon find 
the Lady-Bird at the top of the glass. But let me 
tell you the end of all this. In January, the 
Aphides were all exhausted on my plants, and I 
went up to the hot-house of a friend, where I found 
a full supply upon a plant belonging to the 
Hibiscus family. I returned, happy at my suc¬ 
cess, and placed a leal 
covered with these dain¬ 
ties before my little pet, 
and next morning found 
her dead. Mark this 
beautiful provision of Na¬ 
ture. I had tested it of¬ 
ten, and yet at the mo¬ 
ment it had quite escaped 
my memory. The Coc- 
cinellidaj can bo fed upon 
any variety of Aphides, 
provided the eggs are 
hatched together on the 
same plant, but take the 
larvae or perfect insects, 
and feed them on Aphi¬ 
des from another plant, 
even if it is the same 
species, they will die 
immediately, a convin¬ 
cing proof how thorough¬ 
ly the Aphides imbibe i 
plants they feed on at 
from which she and 
although laid on a 
Fig. 9—The Pupa Case, 
magnified— k, natural si7e. 
[lie very essence of the 
the time. The eggs 
others had been hatched, 
rose leaf, when emerging, 
found themselves on the Cuphea Platicentra, 
and the change to food from another plant 
killed my pet. The spider never descended tor 
food after this ; she spun around herself an ir¬ 
regular loose web, and three days after I found 
her dead, hut from what cause, 1 can not. say, 
as I never have as yet tried this experiment 
upon any of the spiders which feed alone on 
plaut lice This is the reason they are found ern- 
