The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-07-03
THE PLANT LOUISE.

nance.
THE PLANT LOUISE.
How the spinster AphIdes Increase and
Multiply.
The tiny, green louise (aphis) which is
the universal pest of vegetation, thriv-
ing in some part of the root, stem, or
leaf, of almost every living plant, is one
of the most extraordinary insects. 1t is
a minute little creature, but makes up
in numbers what it lacks IN size. It
makes its appearance with the first leaf
that expands in the spring, and con-
tinues its depredations until every green
thing has persisted in the autumn. The
first broo6s of the season, that are
Matched from eggs deposited the pre-
viOus fall, consist, without single ex-
ception. of females. These very soon
give birth to a second brood, which are
not Matched from eggs, but produced
! alive, and are also exclusively composed
of females. Bonnet, famous natural
| ist of the eighteenth century, who made
the aphides a special object of study,
| observed that each virgin plant-lOuse
brings forth, on an average, about one
! hundred young-becoming the mother
of, perhaps, fifteen or twenty in a sin
gle day. This remarkable kind of pro-
pagation continues through nine gener-
! ations. among which not male aphis is
created.
Calculating the rate at which the
spinster aphides multiply, we have, at
! the end of ten broods, as the progeny
of single louse, 1000, ,O0O, ,OOe, 600
young. Prof. Huxley says, in comment
an aphis weighs the one-thousandth of
a grain, which is under the mark. A
duintillion viii, on this estimate, weigh
a duadriIlion of grains. He is a very
stout man who weighs 2, ,O0O, ,OOJ grains
| consequently the tenth brood alone, if
all the members survive the perils to
which they are exposed, contains more
substance that SOC, 900, 600 stout men,
| to saw the least, more than the whole
population of China" This estimate is
| based on the supposition that the entire
progeny of the plant-lOuse survives,-a
circumstance which in reality never oc-
ours. Only a pair or two of plant-lice,
out of the enormous number Froduced
in the course Of generations by each in
! 1ividual 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 aphides are ushered
into being, they plunge their beak into
the leaf or twig on which they crowd,
and there remain through their lives,
! leading purely gluttonous existence.
! When disturbed, they kick and sprawl
about in a most ludierous way. Some
| times they will suspend themselves by
| their bealks, and toss their legs about as
| if in 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 superintendent 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. II IS often
SO abundant as to cover entirely the
! leaves of the plant on which the lice
/ feed. Occasionally it solidifies into
| solid white sugar.
Ants are very fond of this saccharine
! fluid. and some species chiefly subsist
on it. Hence the aphis has been called
the ants milch-cow. The hndliest re-
| lation seems to subsist between the two,
1.-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 caresslng
| touch from the antennfe Of their curl
GUS friends. 4 single louise has been
known. to give off drop after drop to
| successive ants, which were waiting anX-
! iously to receive it. In return, the ants
/ carefully remove all dirt or rubbish
from the aphides, and protect them
| from their enemies, especially the ich-
ueuman flies, which arc perpetually
| lowering about to deposit 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
/ - sto IToa in nna ruaafboV Iv-iv,or
ing them up to the surface TO give them
the advantage of the SUD. 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.