Packard.] INSECTS OF THE PLANT HOUSE. 
97 
4. Insects of the Iflarit Ijltiuse, 
H AYING glanced at some of the more common insects 
to be observed in our walks around the garden, we 
shall in this chapter confine ourselves to a more 
restricted field of observation, and be content simply with 
some glances around the plant house, a look at what may be 
found on the flowers in the parlor, or a survey of the insects 
of the petunias and geraniums in the cottage window. Every 
rose has its thorn, and, it may be added, its Aphides ; the lily 
and azalea their Thrips, and the orange and oleander their 
scale insects. Few are the insects which afflict our house¬ 
hold plants, but a great deal can be said of those few. 
He who would know something of the marvels of biology, 
the origin of life and of specific forms, he who cares to trace 
anew the steps which Bonnet, Chamisso, Steenstrup and 
Owen trod in building up that wonderful theory of parthen¬ 
ogenesis, and learn how one insect may through a simple 
budding process cast off a thronging host of young, pro¬ 
duced like the leaves which bud out from the tree, can in his 
room watch the Aphides of his roses or geraniums. He 
who w r ould follow Herold, Kolliker, Zaddach, Claparede, 
Weismann and Kowalevsky in tracing the development of 
the insect from a primordial sphere of protoplasm to the 
adult, can employ the leisure of his winter evenings in such 
studies, observing each change through his microscope, and 
adding his mite to one of the grandest of biological studies, 
the growth and development of animals. Again, he wdio 
envies the delicate touch and deft fingers in unravelling the 
intricacies of insect anatomy, and emulates the master pieces 
of Straus-Durckheim or Newport, can try his patience and 
steadiness of hand in dissecting the insects of the couserva- 
7 1 
