The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-07-04
THE PLANT LOUISE.
How the Spinster Aphides increase anu
Multiply.

THE PLANT LOUoh'
How the Spinster Aphides
Multiply.
The tiny, green louise (apnisJ VIZ 4hr;r
the universal pest OF vegetatlonti - ~
leaf. of almost eyery living plant, is one
of the most extraordinary insects LII is
a minute little creature, but makes up
in numbers what it lacks IN SIZE. ~
makes its appearance with the nrst lea1
that expands in the spring, anu COLI
tinues its depredations until every green
thing has persisted in the autumn Inc
first broods of the season, tIiaU are
Matched from eggs deposited the pre-
yious fall, consist, without a single eA-
ception, of females. These very soon
give birth to second BROOD, WHICH az
not Matched from eggs, put prouuce51
alive. and are also exclusively composed
of females. Bonnet, famous natural
ist of the eighteenth century, who mace
the aphides a special object OF STUDY
observed that each virgin plant-iouse
brings forth, on an average, ABOUT one
hundred mountaineering the mother
of, perhaps, fifteen or twenty IN SIN
gle day. This remarkable KIND OF pro-
pagation continues through nine gener-
ations, among which not male aphlS Is
created.
Calculating the rate at which the
spinster aphides multiply, we nave at
the end of ten broods, as the progeny ay
of a single lopse, 1,OOO, OOo'ouO,OOo
young. Prof. Huxley says, IN comment
ing on this fact 81 will assume that
an aphis weighs the one-thousandth of
n grain, which is under the mark. A
uuintillion will, on this estimate, weigh
a 0uadrilIion of grains. He is very
stout man who weighs 1000, 600 grains;
consequently the tenth brood alone, II
all the members survive the perlls to
which.they are e1rosed, contains more
SUBJ le that SO, goo, - 6iIt -
f<e&s2<tiOn OF China n75 els477tfezsszt<s
based on the supposition that the entire
progeny of the plant-louse survives
circumstance which in reality never oc-
ours. Only a pair or two of plant-lice,
out of the enormous number PRODUCED
in the course of generations by each in
dividual of the first brood, is found at
the end of the season to have survived
the vicissitudes to which they are ex-
posed. The last brood brought forth in
the autumn comprises both males and
females, which in due time are provided
with wings, and pair. The females then
deposit their eggs, and, with the death
of themselves and their mates, the race
becomes extinct for the season.
As soon as the sphides are ushered
into being they plunge their beak into
| the leaf or twig on which they crowd,
and there remain through their lives,
| leading a purely gluttonous existence.
| When disturbed, they kick and sprawl
Il nd
| times they will suspend themselves by
their beaks, and toss their legs about as
4 if in q high frolic; but they take care
/ to continue sucking all the while. In
/ order that they may eat without ceas-
/ ing, and yet never gorge themselves,
| they are provided with two little tubes
on each end of the body, through which
the superabundant fluid they have taken
| in is discharged. In its passage through
! the body it is turned into a sweet liquor,
| which, flowing from the tubes drop by
| drop, is called honey-dew. 1t is often
so abundant as to cover entirely the
| leaves of the plant on which the lice
feed. Occasionally it solidifies into a
solid white sugar.
Ants are very fond of this saccharine
fluid, and some species chiefly subsist
on it. Hence the sphis has been called
the ants milch-cow. The kindliest re-
lation seems to subsist between the two,
| The stems of plants infested with
aphides may be seen covered with lean
and hungry ants ascending to make their
| hive, and with stout, full-bodied ants
returning, whose sides are distorted
with the sweet liquid they have swal-
lowed. The visits Of the ants give the
aphides no annoyance. On the contrary,
they will often distill the fluid from
their tubes in response to a caressing
touch from the antenne of their curl
Gus friends. A single louise has been
known to give off drop after drop to
| successive ants, which were waiting anx-
iousIy to receive i In return, the ants
carefully remove all dirt or rubbish
from the aphides and protect them
from their enemies, especially the ich-
neuman flies, which arc perpetually
lowering about todeposit their eggs in
the bodies of the lice.
Some ants transfer the aphides to
their nests, where they cherish them
with care, in order that they may
have at hand constant supply of their
coveted food. The aphides which live
upon the roots OF plants are attended
by ants, which build their nests in the
immediate vicinity, and take the same
care of their green proteges as of their
own offspring. When the aphides are
disturbed, the ants betray the utmost
alarm, and catching them up in their
jaws, convey them to the most secret re-
cesses of their nests. 1t is stated that,
when the root lice have exhausted a
plant on which they have lived, the ants
will carry them to new pastures and
that they watch with solitude over the
eggs of the lice,-in fine weather bring
ing them up to the surface to give them
the advantage of the sun. It is a curl
Gus relation existing between two differ
ent species of insects,-one of the won
ders that abound in the animal world.