A P H 
greateft diftance from the fun ; which is the point A (in 
the fig. to the art. Anomaly, p. 74.1,) or extremity of the 
tranfverfe axis of the elliptic orbit, farthefl from the fo¬ 
cus S, where the fun is placed; and diametrically oppo- 
lite to the perihelion B, or nearer extremity of the fame 
axis. In the Ptolemaic fyftem, or in the fuppofition that 
the fun moves about the earth, the aphelion becomes the 
apogee. The times of the aphelia of the primary planets 
may be known by their apparent diameter appearing the 
fmalleft, and alfo by their moving floweft in a given time. 
Calculations and methods of finding them have been given 
by many aftronomers, as Ricciolli, Wolfius, Halley, llr 
Ifaac Newton, Euler, d’Alembert, Clairaut, &c. 
The aphelia of the planets are not fixed : for their mu¬ 
tual actions upon one another keep thofe points of their 
orbits in a continual motion, which is greater or lefs in the 
different planets. This motion is made in confequentia, 
or according to the order of the figns; and fir Ifaac New¬ 
ton fhows that it is in the fefquiplicate ratio of the dif- 
tance of the planet from the fun, that is, as the fquare 
root of the cube of the diftance. The quantities of this 
motion, as well as the place of the aphelion for a given 
time, are varioufly given by different authors. Kepler 
ftates them, for the year 1700, as in the following table : 
Planets. 
Aphelion. 
Annual Motion. 
Mercury 
VP 
8° 25' 
30" 
l' 
45 * 
Venus 
AW 
W- 
3 24 
27 
I 
18 
Mars 
1>l 
0 5i 
29 
I 
7 
Jupiter 
-n- 
8 10 
40 
O 
47 
Saturn 
1 
28 3 
48 
I 
IO 
The Earth 
So 
8 25 
3° 
By De la Hire, they are given as follows, for the fame 
year 1700 : 
Planets. 
Aphslion. 
Annual Motion. 
Mercury 
Vf 13 0 3' 40" 
1' 39" 
Venus 
ZZ 6 56 10 
1 2 6 
Mars 
Bl 0 35 25 
1 7 
Jupiter 
jo 17 14. 
1 34 
Saturn 
t 29 14 41 
I 22 
And De la Lande Rates them as follows, for 1750 : 
Planets. 
Aphelion. 
Secular 
Motion. 
Mercury 
8s 13 0 
33 ' 
1° 
57 
40" 
Venus 
IO 
8 
13 
4 
IO 
O 
Mars 
5 
I 
28 
I 
51 
40 
Jupiter 
6 
IO 
22 
I 
43 
20 
Saturn 
8 
29 
53 
2 
23 
20 
The Earth 
9 
8 
38 
I 
49 
IO 
Of the new planet, Herfchel or Georgium Sidus, the 
aphelion for 1790 was us 23 0 29'42", and its annual mo¬ 
tion 5o"f. 
APHE'REMA, the name of a city. 1 Mac. ii. 34. 
APHE'TA,yi in aftrology, the name of the planet which 
is imagined to be the giver or difpofer of life in a nativity. 
APHET'ICAL, adj. Relating to the apheta. 
A'PHIOM KA'RA-HIS'SAR, a town of Afiatic Tur¬ 
key, in Natolia, lituated on the Mindra, defended by a 
cattle, on an eminence: fifty-fix miles foutli of Kutaia. 
Lat. 37. 7.1. N. Ion. 41.13. E. Ferro. 
APHIS,/ in entomology, the puceron, vine-fritter , or 
plant-leufe ; a genus of infects belonging to the order of 
hemiptera. The rofcrum or beak of the aphis is indexed ; 
the antennae or feelers are longer than the thorax ; the 
wings are four, and eredf, or they are wanting; the feet 
are of the ambulatory kind ; and the belly often ends in 
two horns, from which is ejected that molt delicate juice 
called honey-deui. Gmelin’s Linnaeus enumerates feventy- 
Vol. I. No. 50. (696.) 
A P H 739 
five fpecies of the aphis, ail of them inhabitants of parti¬ 
cular plants from which their trivial names are taken : as 
aphis ribis, nlmi, rofee, &c. 
The extraordinary nature of thefe infedls for fome 
time juftly excited the wonder and attention of natura- 
lifts. They were long ranked among the animals which 
had been clafled with the true androgynes fpoken of by 
Mr. Breynius: for, having never been feen in coitu, it 
was haltily concluded that they multiplied without copu¬ 
lation. This, however, was but a furmife; but this fur- 
mife was believed and adopted by Mr. Reaumur: and, 
though he fupported it by fome obfervations peculiar to 
himfelf, the queftion remained Rill undecided, until Mr. 
Bonnet cleared it up in the affirmative, by (hutting up a 
young aphis at the infiant of its birth, in the moft perfedl 
folitude, which yet brought forth in his fight ninety-five 
young ones. The fame experiment being made on one of 
the individuals of this family, that had been tried with its 
chief, the new hermit foon multiplied like its parent; and 
one of this third generation, in like manned brought up 
in folitude, proved no lefs fruitful than the former. Re¬ 
peated experiments, in this refpedt, as far as the fifth or 
fixth generation, all uniformly prefenting the obferver 
with fecund virgins, were communicated to the Royal 
Academy of Sciences; when an unforefeen and very 
ftrange lufpicion, imparted by Mr. Trembley to Mr. Bon¬ 
net, namely, that one copulation of thefe infedts might 
ferve for feveral generations, engaged him anew in a fe- 
ries of ftill more painful experiments than the foregoing. 
Mr. Bonnet now reared to the amount of the tenth gene¬ 
ration of folitary aphides, and had the patience to keep an 
account of the days and hours of the births of each gene¬ 
ration. In fliort, it was difcovered, that they are really 
diftinguifhed by fexes: that there are males and females 
amongft them, whofe amours are the lead; equivocal of 
any in the world: that the males are produced only in the 
tenth generation, and are but few in number : that thefe, 
foon arriving at their full growth, copulate with the fe¬ 
males : that the virtue of this copulation ferves for ten ge¬ 
nerations: that all thefe generations except the fir ft (from 
the fecundated eggs), are produced viviparous ; and all the 
individuals are females, except thofe of the laR genera¬ 
tions, among whom fome males make their appearance, to 
lay the foundation of a frefli feries. Thefe circumftances 
have been confirmed by other naturalifls. In particular, 
we have a curious and accurate detail of them by Dr. 
Richardfon of Rippon, in the Plrilofophical Tranfadtions, 
vol. xi. art. sz. 
The young, immediately after being protruded from the 
mother, are always of a paler colour than the parent: 
they have then the entire ufe of their limbs, and go in 
quell of food. All the different kinds call their fkin ; and 
it is after thefe developments that fuch of them as have 
wings obtain thefe parts. It is not the males only that 
are winged, as we have feen in fome other genera; many 
of the plant-lice of both fexes are deprived of thefe inliru- 
meats in their molt perfedl (late; for many of the females 
without them are feen producing young. As the larvae 
of thefe infects poffefs all the activity peculiar to their ge¬ 
nus in its lalt (lage of growth, fo they are equally diftin- 
guilhed by voracity. They are furnifhed with a fmall 
trunk, which pierces the leaves, and enables the animal 
to extract the juices proper for its nourifhment. Many 
plants grow deformed by the number of pnndtures thus 
made upon their leaves, and decay from the want of their 
ufual lap. Some thrive even when covered with thefe in- 
fedls, while others rife up into fmall hollow tubercles, 
which, on being broken open, difclofe the numberlefs 
families that inhabit them. The galls or excrefcences 
formed by the plant-loufe, which often disfigure the flirubs 
upon which they grow, are in China, Perlia, and the Le¬ 
vant, applied fuccefsfully in dying. Some fpecies formed 
in thefe more northerly climes might probably be turned 
to the fame ufeful purpofe, were their virtues underftood. 
The plant-lice void from the anus that clear liquid fub- 
9 P Ranee 
