Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/184

 ==CHAPTER VI: PLANT LICE ==

"PLANT lice! Ugh," you say, "who wants to read about those nasty things! All I want to know is how to get rid of them." Yes, but the very fact that those sort green bugs that cover your roses, your nasturtiums, your cab- bages, and your fruit trees at certain seasons reappear so persistently, after you think you have exterminated them, shows that they possess some hidden source of power; and the secrets of a resourceful enemy are at least worth knowing--besides, they may be interesting. Really, however, insects are hOt our enemies; they are only living their appointed lives, and it just happens that we want to eat some of the same plants that they and their ancestors have always fed on. Our trouble with the in- sects is just that same old economic conflict that has bred the majority of wars; and, in the case between us and the insects, it is we who are the aggressors and the enemies of the insects. We are the newcomers on the earth, but we fume around because we find it already occupied by a host of other creatures, and we ask what right have they to be here to interfere with us! Insects existed millions of years before we attained the human form and aspirations, and they have a perfectly legitimate right to everything they feed on. Of course, it must be admitted, they do not respect the rights of private property; and therein lies their hard luck, and ours. The plant lice are well known to anyone who has a garden, a greenhouse, an orchard, or a field of grain. Some call them "green bugs"; entomologists usually call

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PLANT