. The book of the garden. Gardening. , GRUB, AND EGGS. Hemerobiidas and order Neuroptera. The pre- servation of this family should be sedulously cared for, as they are bred, live amongst, and feed upon the plant-eating species of aphides, and are of the greatest importance to man. The aphis-lion makes its appearance in May, and may be observed walking about upon the leaves of plants, resembling more in appearance a small mass of cottony-like matter than a living insect. This covering is composed of the fragments of the skins of the aphides it has destroyed, and which, by a peculiar
. The book of the garden. Gardening. , GRUB, AND EGGS. Hemerobiidas and order Neuroptera. The pre- servation of this family should be sedulously cared for, as they are bred, live amongst, and feed upon the plant-eating species of aphides, and are of the greatest importance to man. The aphis-lion makes its appearance in May, and may be observed walking about upon the leaves of plants, resembling more in appearance a small mass of cottony-like matter than a living insect. This covering is composed of the fragments of the skins of the aphides it has destroyed, and which, by a peculiar power invested in its jaws, as soon as it has sucked the vitals out of its prey, it throws upon its back, until, by re- peated additions, it at last assumes the form of a large semi-globular mass, probably as a means of hiding it from its own peculiar enemies, or more probably as a covering of protection to its soft and fleshy body. When the larva is fiiUy grown, it spins a cottony cocoon of a globular form, within which it is transformed into a short inactive pupa. Its duration in the pupa state varies with the season of the year : it, however, remains in this state throughout the winter, the fly being produced in the early part of sum- mer. The flies are generally abroad in the evening, remaining quiet through the day; they are by no means active on the wing. On being touched they give out a most disagreeable odour. The females deposit their eggs on the leaves of plants, especially such as are infested with aphides, attaching them to the leaf by a long slender arm or stalk, of a whitish colourâthe eggs, when so placed, having somewhat the appearance of minute fungi. This stalk of at- tachment is composed of a glutinous matter the female discharges at the time of laying the egg, and this matter, hardening by exposure to the air, maintains the egg in a firm position. The insects, as soon as they are hatched, finding themselves in the midst of masses of aphides, commence warfar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectgardening, bookyear18
