An English naturalist has figured out that a single-stem mother
of the common aphids, or “green-fly” of the rose, would give
origin, at its regular rate of multiplication and provided each
individual born lived out its natural life, which is only a few
days at best, to over thirty-three quintrillions of rose aphids
in a single season, equal in weight to more than a billion and
a half of men. Of course such a thing never happens, because
so many of the young aphids get eaten by lady-bird beetles and
flower-fly larvæ and other enemies before they come to be old
enough to produce young.--VERNON L. KELLOGG, “Insect
Stories.”
(1085)