Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1861-09-05
9witultura! 9spartment.
[From the Sag Harbor Express
Aphides, or Plant-Lice.---The New Grain
Insects and Army Worm.

1nSeCCS ana Army worm.
The grass aUd cereal crops have suffered,
the present season to an unusual extent by
insect depredators: 10 addition to the i'm
mense numbers. of the Army worm that have
preyed upon the growing grass and grain, q
species of Aphis has done great injury to the
oats, wheat, and corn crops. Almost every
family of plants are infested with certain spe
cies of plant-lice peculiar to them These
differ in form, color clothing, &c, and in the
length of the hOneytubes, or bills, through
which they pump up, or suck the juices of the
plant, upon which they feed For instance ::
The A phls ROsae, or Rose louSe, the Aphis
Br0Ss1ceae, or Cabbage louise, the Aphis Sa-
tlctt, the louse of the willow groves &c But
have never before heard of serious injury
done to the grain crops by this insect. In
darrlS's Treatise on Insects the author alludes
20 certain insect similar to the IHrips Cerea-
lum which sometimes nfests wheat, in Europe
specimens Of which were furnished to him by
Mrs. n. G. S. Gage, formerly of Concord, n
IL. But from its description and habits |
think is nothing more nor less than the wheat
midge, which in later years has proved so de-
structive to the wheat crops in this and other
States 1t having first appeared, ABOUT the
time Mrs. Gage wrote, in that section of
country, and has since gradually extended
west, until it has reached Ohio, Indiana aud
other western states.
have been kindly furnished by two of the
neighboring farmers with specimens of the
Aphls which have appeared in such great
numbers in the grain fields the present season,
and | cannot discover that they differ mate
rally from the plant lice found on many spe-
cies of the coarser vegetation.
The idea has been advanced by some of the
neighboring farmers that this insect has some
connection in its origin with the Army worm,
or the Army worm with that, which has ap-
peareG simultaneously with it. Such an opin-
ion would, at once be ridicuIed by any ento-
mologist. The worm, like all similar insects,
passes through certain well known transform.
atlon" In its period Of infancy it is techni
calIy called a Sarga, word Signifying a mask,
because therein It's future form is more or less
masked or concealed. This name is not only
applied to grubs, caterpillars, and maggots,
and other insects that undergo a complete
transformation, but also young and wing!eSS
graSshopperS and bugs, and indeed all young
insects before the wings begin to appear
The next stage or the second period is called
the pupG state from slight resemblance that
some Of the latter present TO an infant trussed
in bandages as was the fashion among the
Romans. The pupa from the caterpllars,
however, are more commonly called chrys-
Aids, because some of them, as the name i'm
plies, are gilt or adorned with golden Spots.-
At the end of the second period, they again
shed their skins and come forth fully grown,
and in this stage are in their perfect or adult
state, and soon die, after laying their eggs.
The history of the APhideS is equally we'll
understood, it having been an object of pro-
found interest aud study for the early philos
ophers, and is one of the most remarkable
and anomalous of the insect tribes, not even
excepting that of the honey bee
The genus to which pant-lice belong is
called AphiS from a Greek word which sig
n6es to exhaust, as they live upon the crcu-
lating juices or life blood of the plant. In
the autumn, or near the close of the season,
unlike all former generations, the plant-louse
brings forth brood consisting of male and
female, both being provided with WINGS
These pair, and the females lay their eggs,
and then they die, the race being extinct for
the season. The eggs, thus laid, are hatched
in due time in the spring, and the young lice
Immediately begin to feed by sucking the
juices from the tender plants. The numerous
punctures upon the underSide of the leaves
cause them to curl up and present the diseas
ed appearance observed on the rose, and
Leach and leaves Of other plants
What is so anomalous and remarkable now.
is that the brood, without a single exception,
consists achOLiy Of fsmaies which are wingless,
but are in condition Immediately to continue
their kind. The young not being hatcLed from
eggs, but are produced aLiUe, each female may
be the mother of fifteen or twenty young lice
in the course of single day The pant.lice
of this second generation are also 1cingless
females, which grow up and have their young
in due time and thus brood after brood is
produced even to the tenth generation or more
1eithOm the appearance or Intervention,
throughout the whole season, of single male.
This extraordinary kind of propagation ends
in autumn with the birth Of the winged males
and females, which lay their eggs as stated
above, for the next annual generations. Mr..
Curtis en English writer on the subject, esti.
mates the offspring from single egg, in the
course of seven generations, to amount to the
enormous number of Ssuen hundred and tlcentv.
nine millions. At this rapid rate of increase
some would suppose that every kind of vegc.
tation would be soon entirely destroyed. But
it is proper to remark that these, like all
insects injurious to vegetation, have their
parasitic or other enemies that keep their
numbers in check Remarkable among those
that depredate upon plantlice is the Aphis
lion, one the most voracious of all the Insect
tribes. There is another attendant upon the
plant louse, aud those ignorant in such matters
have thought that they produced the lice. |