The Portland daily press., 1878-08-22
AGRICULTURAL.
What the INSECTS DO.

Wherever the current worm is to be found,
there is the wasp, busy in search of him, and
newly hatched brood makes but a portion
OF square meap for our friend with the
long, slender, smoked pearl wings. 1t is
interesting to see the eager, seemingly nerv-
Gus haste with which the wasps go from leaf
to leaf, hunting their favorite food. This
wasp, although of the same shape, is not
the steel-bue "mud-dauber,' which, by the
way, provides live spiders for its Larvae, but
has brownish body with yellowish legs, and
should not be confounded with the insect
which Injuries raspberries, plums, ETC., that
line of business being performed, so far as
my observation extends, by yellow-strped
hornet, miscalled wasp.-ScientJfc Farmer.
One day this spring, Mr.. Edward Gleason
of Saxonville, while in his potato field look
ing at the ravages of a newly-arrived pest,
discovered an insect in the act of destroying
the eggs of the Colorado potato bug. This
was the "lady-bug" so called; an oval,
shining, mahogany colored little fellow with
black spots; an insect considerably resem-
bling miniature spotted turtle. This little
creature is destroyer OF the aphis. common
ly called plant-louse or green fly; although
the latter is a misnomer, as the males only
are winged. Wherever in outdoor culture
the aphides are found, there, in contact with
them, will also be found ants, not destroying
or even disturbing the lice, but sucking
sweet substance eXuding from their bodies.
The aphis has been aptly termed ''the milch
COW of the ant" 1t seems from the discov-
cry of Mr.. Gleason that the lady bug has
double claim on our protection. Unfortu-
nately they are often destroyed by those
ignorant OF their value.-Scientifc Farmer.
The canker worm, the tent caterpillar, the
currant worm-in fact, all insects of this
class, have their deadly enemies in the shape
OF the ichneumon flies, which deposit their
eggs in the backs of their victims. The en-
bryo flies avoid the vital parts of the worm,
which feeds voraciously, as if it were not
bearing within itself living enemies, and in
due time arrives at full size. Perhaps it forms
its chrysalis; but no moth or butterfly ever
emerges; instead, several ichneumons are
hatched out to hunt IN their turn new VIC
Tins. When you see little fly about third
of an inch in length stepping and flying
about over the leaves OF your shrubs, singu-
larly alert and brisk-a little fellow with trans
parent wings and body resplendent with
the brightest green and gold, don't harm
him. This is one of your friends, one of the
great variety of ichnenmons.
In the summer, over every pond, you see
poised in the air or swiftly darting, the drag
on flies, alias "devil's darnipg needless" Ac-
cording to popular belief, this POLITICALLY dia-
bolical name is not the only formidable thing
about the creature. If we can believe all the
stories told he is little less to be dreaded than
the scorpion or the centipede. In his tail he
is said to carry a terrible sting, or rather
"stiDger," a more terrible name by far The
connection between this creature and the
darning of stockings and the devil is not
clearly to be seen, unless we put it on the
ground that his satanic majesty prefers to
have dothing holy if he can help it. Be this
as it may, a more harmless insect does not
exist. 1t carries nothing more dangerous than
pair Of strong avs with which it seizes its
prey-insects. Mosquitoes are to it as oys-
tiers to an alderman. The name it bears in
the Gulf States, "mosquito-hawk," gives a
clue to its pursuits.