Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/197

 I.ICE

process may be completed in a few minutes, or it may take as long as hall an hour, but if the feeble creature should be unable to free itself at last from the drying and contracting tissue, it remains a captive .strugg!ing in the grip of its embryonic vestment until it expires. The young aphid successfully delivered takes a few uncertain, staggering steps on its weak and colorless legs, and then complacently rests awhile; but after about twenty rein-

Fc. 94- Young aphids on apple buds in spring

utes or half an hour it is able to walk in proper insect fashion, and it proceeds upward on its twig, a course sure eventually to lead it to a bud. While the aphid eggs are hatching, or shortly there- after, the apple buds are opening and unfolding their delicate, pale-green leaves, and from everywhere now the young aphids come swarming upon them, till the tips are often blackened by their numbers (Fig. 94)- The hungry horde plunges into the hearts of the buds, and soon the new leaves are punctured with tiny beaks that rob them of their food; and the young foliage, upon which

[ I6I ]

INSECTS