The Pennsylvania State College 
Correspondence Courses in Nature Study 
insect 3Ufe 
LESSON NO. 6 
Green Plant Lice 
By George C. Butz 
W E may find green plant lice at any time of the year. 
Therefore, in taking up this subject, we should have 
by us some of these little insects. If it is during the 
winter months, we should look for them upon the house plants 
at our windows. Just here we will observe that they find some 
plants agreeable food and others not, for we never find plant 
lice upon the geranium or the india rubber plant; but, if the 
house plants have been neglected by the housekeeper, we are 
very likely to find them upon the rose geranium, heliotrope, 
callas and pelargoniums. They love the chrysanthemum, cinera¬ 
rias and petunias. When you gather, observe that they are 
most abundant on the growing tips of the plants, indicating 
that they prefer the tender growth, just as we prefer our vege¬ 
tables to be tender and crisp. Observe, also, if you have oppor¬ 
tunity, that the plant lice on the various plants mentioned are 
in some slight characters different from each other, indicating 
that there are various species or kinds. We may as well state 
the fact here, also, that there are almost as many as the kinds 
of plants upon which they feed. To the casual observer, they 
differ usually only in color. Thus, we have the black plant lice 
on cherry trees, red plant lice on chrysanthemums, and green 
plant lice on roses. Then there are woolly plant lice, the indi¬ 
viduals being covered with a white material of a woolly aspect, 
which is secreted from the body. But in this lesson, we v/ill 
Copyrighted 1900, l>y The Pennsylvania State College 
QH 53 
. P5 
no. 6 
Copy 1 
Collected set. 
