Small aphis look very much like adult except in size. After shedding their skins three times they are adults. Several generations of young are produced each summer and they are all females. What's more, they are born alive, contrary to all rules of insect conduct. Late in the fall males and winged females are produced.
Bees content themselves with gathering the honey dew from the leaves but certain ants go farther.
These ants keep plant lice captive, stroke them to stimulate the secretion of honey dew and thus have a handy food supply. Dr. Crosby tells of watching ants take the aphis eggs from dying plants and remove them to their burrows to carry over the winter. If the eggs become damp they take them out to dry. When the young hatch they feed them by placing them on growing plants. By F. W. Schmoe, Park Naturalist.