WHAT sort of insects are a-phi'des? In plain English they are
plant-lice. When about to pluck a rose-bud, have you not started
sometimes to find it covered with little green insects? These are
aphides.
They suck the sap from the bud on the leaf; and every person who raises
a rose-bush seeks to get rid of them. The little insect called the
lady-bird destroys them in great numbers: so you must encourage
lady-birds, if you want your roses to flourish.
Most of us have heard of honey-dew, and know, probably, that it is a
sweet, clammy substance, found on the leaves of various trees and
plants, especially on the oak, the vine, the hop, and the honeysuckle.
This honey-dew is extracted with the sap, secreted, and then thrown out
in a pure state by the aphides.
Besides the sweets which they scatter around them like sugar-plums, they
always keep a good supply within the green jars of their bodies. By this
lavish use of confectionery, they gain a few interested friends and some
enemies like the lady-birds, that eat them up.
Wherever the aphides abound, whether in hop-ground, bean-field, or
rose-garden, there are lady-birds gathered together, and they are
welcomed by the cultivator, if not by the aphis. (_Aphis_ is the
singular noun, and _aphides_ its plural form.) But enough of aphis
enemies, and now for the friends, which, as well as foes, they owe to
the sweet milk--the honey-dew--which they give out. So these friends,
you see, are fair-weather friends, interested friends; and among them
are several varieties of the ant tribe.
The ants do not hurt the aphides, but follow them for what they can get
out of them. They are continually seen in company; and the ants
sometimes drive off the lady-birds and other foes.
The aphis, when attacked by its mortal foe the lady-bird, submits with a
good grace. Never did Turk bend his neck to the bow-string, or rush upon
the cimeter with greater courage, than the aphis submits itself to the
murderous jaws of its devouring foes. It seems quite at ease, and enjoys
life to the last bite or sup, while its companions are being killed, and
their carcasses heaped up around it. It evidently thinks it is right to
die quietly, like a great-minded little insect.