Packard.] 
INSECTS OF THE GARDEN. 
37 
desert their leafy homes in autumn, infesting every shrub, 
tree and herb, and not content to prey upon the leaves and 
bark, but even attacking the roots of annuals and trees 
alike, these little plagues are well nigh omnipresent. 
The naturalist Bonnet, as we have previously intimated, 
discovered in 1742 the singular mode of reproduction in 
these insects, by which we are enabled to account for their 
enormous numbers. He discovered that the summer brood 
of wingless individuals, or larvae, were born of virgin 
mothers; that their progeny gave birth to similar aphides, 
and so on through the summer for nine generations, until 
the original maiden aphis counts her children and grand¬ 
children by millions. This large family thus launched into 
the world are abundantly able to provide for their own 
wants without the slightest anxiety to the maternal heart, 
lliey at once, on being ushered into the world, plunge their 
long beaks into the leaf or twig on which they crowd, 
and there remain through their lives, leading a gluttonous 
existence indeed, for when their stomachs are full they do 
not have to rest awhile and sharpen their appetites for the 
next meal, or resort to emetics, as in the palmy days of 
Roman epicurism, but nature has provided tfiem with two 
safety valves, being two little tubes situated on the end of 
the body. The liquid food or sap, after passing through the 
alimentary canal, in part overflows through these tubes, as 
a sweet exudation called honey dew. It may be seen drop¬ 
ping on leaves, and sometimes solidifies into a solid whitish 
sugar. 
Aphides are thus a great source of attraction to ants and 
other insects, which visit them for the sake of this honey. 
Frequently the ants will stroke them and urge them to give 
out their honey more rapidly, hence they seem to milk them, 
and the aphides are regarded as the ants’ cows. Some utili" 
tarian ants treat them as domestic cattle, herding them, and 
even carry this care of their flocks so far as to take them up 
5 
