The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-08-28
a FAMOUS FAMILY.
Jneredibis Cspaeity for Rsproduetion Of
the Aphfdes.

Il 4H&Ee0t0ie &8H&Slty TOT AopF00ueliOu OF
the Aphfdes.
Longman's Magazine
3 The scsne is Kentish hop field. and
the Immediate foreground Is q large leaf
just piacked from a vine In full vigor. The
<beper surface. dark green aud glossy, looks
tull and uninteresting enough. As IL IL
hrnrd over the sight which meets the eye
uy without exaageration be described as
exlsaordinary. AT first sight there is
1ome difficulty in realizing exactly
<ehat one Is looking at II appears
n be great swarm Of gray-white
pnits erowding every available atom OF
1pscs. As, however, the eye gets familiar
With the details. little difficulty 10 expert
enced in iocallzing the individuals. Every
one Of them, despite It's small size, stands
eut clearly snd distinctly. IL 10 certainly
asast army, silent and feeding, pumping
% the lille juices of the hop and
dreaming away an existence of motion
lsss content. which. TO US restless
creatures, paaseth understanding. You
s wonder how many there are on the single
issfg Five thousand, f0.000. perhaps.
There In no need, however to guess 80
wildly. the leaf Is covered evenly. q few
& lines dividing and redividing, and thus We
B have section small enough TO count on.
IL IL the work OF moment, and the total
& sand at least IL you are person of fine
feelings tas of course you arel and not
80 mere brutal hop grower. you
hardly like TO toss the leaf carelessIy
sEay: the pasture ground, ~ you begin 20
realize IL. of twenty thousand sentient
creatures. each. IL may be. with five senses,
eefsalniy and obviously with six legs, and
digestive apparatus complete. You pluck
mother leaf. and another. ft IL the same
sssryxhers: the whole of the plants ara
warming with countless millions of the
creatures. Ten days ago there was nothing
here; now the hops are beyond human
Ill All the promise of this vigorous life
isdoamed. The vines have got the blight:
hey are fast in the fatal grip of the hop.
nphas.
TIE hop-aphis belongs to a family which
has an imposing record. When the day
Nfves that fame Is measured, not by the
aolse We make. but by the amount of solid
print In which the index-maker iaeonic-
Sly records our deeds. that family will
sssaredy be enc OF the most famous In
Ne world
its now abou. 100 years since Bonnet,
afreneh naturalist, caused something os
tsensatlon ia the scientific circles Of the
hnls BY IN account which he published OF
observations he had made of the habits
sad life history OF the aphis. Though the
spais faniliy includes great num-
Fer Of species tthose found in
dfsat Britain alone numbering close
On Aalit has certain weli-marked charac-
xfistics which are peculiar To itself Bon
pet bssan operations BY iso,ating At birth
solitary aphis on !ts foot plant ft
fFss fspidiy and moustet four times In
eFht DAYS by which time 10 had almost
sssfaed its fun size. soon after this there
hsfpsned what 81 that time was consid-
~ a very extraordinary thing.
tas aphss had attained maturity.
t Instead OF proceeding Co take
y lsseli mate and make preparation for
sss]svtng, IS all properly constituted In
sssss had hitherto he-n expected "a do IL
ssmained quietly feeding tigi the eleventh
~, when II brought into the world q lIv-
MS duplicate of itself Ii then went on
k'udaetng rapidly. aad at the end of
Msnsy-one days IL had given birth
Mnety-ave young. Bonnet then
r0ceeded 20 isolate one of this See
va generation. and tile same history
rs repeated. the second aphis bringing
49, tAe world in . short space of tiMe
ssaesy hstng young. Bonnet observed
asasteen generations. Al the end of the
mason y vas found that these prolific
sneraiions came "a an end. aud fully de.
wsoped males and females nere produced
saich mated. The female iaid . few eggs
= no ordinary Nay and these Matched
- she following spring into in.
Mnaasls IN which the strsnre
Ns VAS begun over again. Prot. Hux.
oRes worked cut calculation 90 thi.
100 Assuming each Aphis 10 weigh the
Seshoassndth part Of grain. and man
sWgA zWA.tD0 grasps. the tenth brood
ssas OF single sphSs would weigh as
49, Is snoa,so men. or more than the
s@ass population Of China
-se Phenomenon ST the female anhts
.ssiag en- the species by herself for a
Sszses 81 generations. hy q process Of
s-sasnk, has ever ssnee possessed al ah-
- interest Tor science. The aaes-
shseh II raises are of fundamental
nsoftanee Ia hsosogy, aud saaay Of
49, are Intimately associated with
g. - me most interesting problems