Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/191

 LICE

Since special cases are always more convincing than general statements, let us folloy the seasonal history of some particular aphids, taking as examples the species that commonly infest the apple. Let the rime be a day in the early part of Match. Probably a raw, gusty wind is blowing from the north- west, and only the silver maples with their dark purplish clusters of frowzy flowers already open give any sug- gestion of the approach of spring. Find an old" apple tree somewhere that has hOt been sprayed, the kind of tree an entomologist always likes to have around, since it is sure to be fidl of insects. Look closely at the ends

of some of the twigs and you will probably find a number of little shiny black things stuck close to the bark, especially about the bases of the buds, or tucked under the projecting edges of scars and tiny crevlces (Fig. 9). Each little speck is oral and about one thirty- sixth of an inch in length. To the touch the ob- jects are firm, but elastic, and if you puncture one a pulpy liquid issues from lt; or soit appears, at least, to the naked eve-- a microscope would show that in this liquid there is

Fro. 9 . Aphis eggs on apple twigs in March; an enlarged egg below

organization. In short, the tiny capsule contains a young aphid, because it is an aphid egg. The egg was de- posited on the twig last fall by a femme aphis, and its living contents have remained alive since then, though fully exposed to the inclemencies of winter.

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INSECTS