62 
PEA. 
Green Dolphin ; Pea Aphis. Siphonophora pisi , Kalt. 
The Green Aphis, Dolphin, or Plant Louse of the Peas, is well 
known, as infesting the shoots of Peas in myriads in favourable 
seasons. 
The following note of its prevalence at Kingsnorth, Kent, was 
forwarded by Mr. T. Hart, and is of interest, especially when taken in 
connection with his other notes on prevalence of Aphides on other 
crops in that district, and his observations of the deficient amount of 
rainfall extending over a period of twelve weeks from about the second 
week of June. 
To give some idea of the amount of this it may be worth while to 
note that from Mr. Hart’s observations it appears the total of rainfall 
for twelve weeks ending Sept. 6th was only one inch fifteen-hundredths, 
and, comparing this with the mean of the returns of Chiswick rainfall 
during the period from 1826 to 1869, in which the mean fall of June, 
July, August, and September were respectively 1*99, 2*32, 2*41, and 
2*50 inches, shows that the amount of rain that fell at Kingsnorth in 
the twelve weeks was not as much as two-thirds of the amount of the 
driest of the months of which the mean fall is above mentioned. 
The note of Tares is appended, as being an allied attack. Mr. 
Hart reported as follows :— 
“ Green Dolphin. — Notwithstanding the stagnation produced by 
the long spell of the N.E. winds (a condition that renders them 
particularly liable to attack) the Pea-crops did not suffer from the 
ravages of insects till the Dolphin appeared on the scene, which was 
about the time the first flowers expanded. Nor did it increase so 
rapidly then as to prevent quite a reasonable number of blossoms 
setting, but eventually, favoured by the dry weather, the pest multiplied 
prodigiously, and stopped all further development in the plant. 
Starlings (true friends of the farmer) by hundreds came to feed upon 
them, as did, more sparingly, other insectivorous birds, such as 
Whitethroats, Willow Wrens, and the smaller Tits. I commenced 
cutting the Peas on July 24th. The ground immediately behind the 
men was covered with Aphides shaken from the haulm, scrambling 
over each other to gain some elevated point, such as a piece of stubble 
or lump of earth. An hour afterwards all movement had ceased, the 
insects having massed themselves on every available ‘ point of vantage,’ 
giving grass, weed-stems, and stubble a superficial resemblance to the 
green flower-head of some orchidaceous plant. Those specimens 
nearest the stem were ‘ lice,’ closely packed, frequently two or three 
