The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-04-30
TENTH PAPER.

ing on the leaves and producing gals.
Those who have examined aphids at all
carefully must have observed that ants
are almost always associated with them.
There is much reason for this. as many
aphidS excrete swedish, sticky fluid
or honey dew, upon which the ants feed.
In fact, ants attend these aphids as
zealously as men attend their cattle. and
the aphidS may truly be said To be the
cows of the ants. This is no haphazard
relationship, as numerous examples
prove. The ants care for their cow
apnids in various ways, by driving away
lady bugs and other enemies, and take
precautions to insure their survival of
the winter. case in point Is che corn
plant louise. Professor Forbes has shown
that a certain species of ant LasiuS
alienus, carefully collects the aphiS eggs
late in the fall and tenderly cares for
them during the winter in their own sub
terranean galleries. As the plant lice
hatch in the spring the ants burrow down
along the roots of the corn and various
other plants and carefully convey aphldS
down these galleries and establish them
on the roots of the plants. Ants play an
important part also In establishing new
colonies of aphidS here and there In Il
field, by conveying the young and wing
less lice to other plants. Ihere can DC
no question of the advantage which ants
derive from the aphids. and In many
cases the advantage of the attendance OF
these ants 10 the aphids is even more
evident.
PROBABLY the two principal plant lice
melon louise and cabbage louise There
ara occasionally other species thai De
come injurious. bus these alone Viii D.
mentioned. During certain seasons the
melon louise ting. 10 becomes a most serI-
Gus nuisance. particularly TO cantai"pes.
which II attacks soon after they appear
above ground. The lower surface OF leaves
IS infeS ed, ana the iirst indication OF iieIt
presence IS the checking OF me growth
of the plants. AMI the sCose!ucne
curling Of leaves. E.:aminc the under
surface of leaves, when such are the
gNmptOmS and there Will usually De re
Veuled a colony of these aphlds, all DuSl-
~ engaged in pumping up sap from Inc
interior of the leaf
The inftstatiOn is begun by the winSed
agamic form which. coming into the He!d
from some of its various food pantS. set
ties down on one plant and begins the pro-
ducti0n of the winglesS yOGug. As soon
as the colony is started. he parent Mes
To another pant and starts another COLO
ny. y field may mus soon become quite
generally infested, and II treatment >
NOT soon Undertaken, he plants may sue
cumb to their T'VaScs-
This post has an unusually large num-
her of food plants; not less ihtr thlrty
having been recorded ty Mr.. Pe-SstIdc.
Most cuourldts arr attacked. and TINS
same species is also the cotton aPhis. TO
which plant il is sometimes very lnlu-
riouS In Florida ii doubtless spends the
winter on the orange. and mi@rateS to
garden crops, upon their cultivation in
the spring. From the fact that II has
such wide range Of food plants, includ-
in~ those mentioned and many weeds, II
becomes 81 difficult natter to control
Their feeding on 50 many different plants
explains how il is thtt a Cautaioupe or
cotton Hc.G can So quickly become badly
infested. as the winged forms migrate III
from various directions and begin at once
To produce colonies here and there in the
field At the approach of winter. in his
climate. adults If 10th sexes are pro-
duced, ard the females lAy eggs 10 ensure
the propa cation of the species over win
ter. III is not Improbable that many
adults PASS the winter in Information.
hcen found rs latr aS UanuarT. even
ufter heavy cr1StS. Slcrt AMI
snow. Full crown aphils appear very
early in the spring. which fact also rath-
cr favnrs this theory of winter hiberna-
ticu of adults.
TREATMENT.
1t is not difficult to detect the presence
Of tha aphids after the vines have become