Article beginning on page 123.
Psyche 5:123-133, 1888.

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CONTRIBUTION TO A KNOWLEDGE OF THE AUTUMN LIFE- HISTORY OF CERTAIN LITTLE-KNOWN APHIDIDAE. BY CLARENCE MOORES WEED, COLUMBUS, OHIO. I doubt whether our present knowl-
edge of any of the larger families of
American insects is in a more chaotic
and deplorable state than that relating
to the aphididae. Though much has
been written concerning these insects,
comparatively few species have been
described in more than one or two of
their several forms; and with a few
notable exceptions, almost none of the
authors who have described species
have attempted to trace their seasonal
life-histories. Doubtless this condition of things is due largely to the obsc.urity surrounding the subject, and the imper-
fect knowledge of the economy of the
group both in this country and Europe)
as well as to the difficulty of preserving specimens in satisfactory condition for
study. The recent researches of Licht-
enstein, and Kessler in Europe, and of
Riley, Forbes, and others in this
country, have given us, however, a
substantial working basis for the tracing of the life-histories of these insects, and our knowledge ought hereafter to make
more satisfactory progress.
This paper presents a part of the
results of field work during the autumn
of 1887 on species which have hereto-
fore been very little studied, and about whose autumn life-histories nothing has
been recorded. I am under obligations,
for many favors received, to my co-
workers in the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, especially to the
Director, Prof. S. A. Forbes, under
whose general instructions the investi-
gations have been carried on.
This species was first described by
Dr. Fitch, in 1851, in the Fourth report of the regents of the Univeisity of New
York (p. 6j), from apterous females
found on Cows ċ´panicdata The
description is very brief, and as the
date of collection is not given we have
no means of knowing whether his
specimens were oviparous or viviparous,
though they were probably the latter.
So far as I can learn the species has not since been recognized, except by Prof.
Oestlund who says that it is rather




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124 PSYCHE. [November--December 1888
common 011 the dog-wood inMinnesota.*
Whether the specimens described below
belong to Pitch's species or not I can
only conjecture, but as it is the only
Aphis I have found upon this plant I
refer it to this species.
My attention was first called
to this
insect by finding the winged vivipa-
rous females establishing colonies of
sexed individuals on the
leaves of dog-
wood about the middle of October.
The insects had evidently migrated to
the shrubs under observation either
from other shrubs of the same kind
or
from some other kind of plant for there
were no indications of their having de-
veloped where they were found.
They
occurred at the same time and in the
saimes ituations as ScJiizc77~fe7 a corni cola. In fact the autumn life-history
of the two species seems to be identi-
cal, except that the males of the latter are apterous while those of the former
have wing's. The eggs of the two
species are laid in the same situations
and are indistinguishable. Fully cle-
velopecl males and females were ob-
served 24 October when some of the
latter were ovipositing on the twigs ;
and all three forms were taken as late
as 10 November.
Winged viviparous female (^ċ´'"pseu
doma @$fern.
Wing expanse . . . . 6.40 mm.
Width of body . . . . .68 mm.
Length of body . . . . 1.83 mm.
' ' antennae . . 1.41 mm.
' ' cornicles . . .23 mm.
'' "cauda. . . . .11mm.
*Fourteenth Kept. State geol. Minn., p. 47, t Lichtenstein, "Les pucerons. Monographic des aphidiens," p. 150.
Head black, with frontal and post-
ocular tubercles well developed. Pro-
thorax black with prominent lateral
tubercles. Meso- and metathorax
black, somewhat shining. Abdomen
green with a row of marginal sub-
circular black spots, two transverse
spots of same color on clorsum in front
of cauda, and a similar quadrangular
spot at anus, and just in front of it on ventrum ; also occasional small scat-
tered spots on both surfaces.
Anterior
legs dull yellowish-brown, with coxae,
articulations of femora and tibiae, tips of tibiae, and tarsi, dusky. Middle and
posterior legs same, except that femora
are more or less dusky throughout.
Cornicles long, blackish, cylindrical.
Cauda dark yellowish-brown. Tegulae
greenish-brown. Insertion of wings
yellowish. Costal nervure blackish.
Cubitus light yellow. Stigma blackish.
Posterior nervures brown. Antennae
long and slender. Joints I and I1 short, subequal ; 1x1 nearly as long as IV +
V, and slightly longer than VII ; pores
distinct; IV and V subequal ; VI
shorter than any except I and IT ; VII
a little shorter than 111. Rostrum yel-
lowish-brown, reaching second coxae.
Described from six specimens taken
24 October 1887, on under side of leaves of Cornus sangziinea and C. sericea,
with colonies of young of the ovipar-
ous form about them.
Witzged male.
Wing expanse . . . . . 5.00 mm.
Width across thorax. . . 0.44 mm.
Length of body . . . . 1.60 mm.
'
LL antennae . . 1.20 mm.
' -
' cornicles . . .14 mm.
'
cauda . . . .IO mm.




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November-December 1888.1 Ps2'rHE. 125
Head and thorax black ; abdomen
dull yelloGish-brown, becoming black
in older specimens. Eyes dark. An-
tennae dusky-brown ; minutely tuber-
culous ; with many pores. Joints I and
I1 subequal in length ; I11 longest,
shorter than IV + V ; IV and V sub-
equal ; VI about one-half as long a s V ; VII comparatively short, about equal to
V, rough and not tapering, with two
setae at tip. Cornicles long, dusky, cylin- drical, roughened. Legs hairy ; anterior pair yellowish-brown with coxae, articu- lation of femora and tibiae, tip of tibiae, .and tarsi dusky ; middle and posterior
pairs yellowish brown, with coxae,
band on middle of femora, tips of tibiae and tarsi dusky. Cauda broad, brown
with curved stiff hairs on lateral and
posterior margins. Rostrum reaching
middle coxae, yellowish-brown. Teg-
ulae yellowish-green ; insertion of veins, costa, and cubitus ye110 wish-brow n ;
stigma olive brown.
Described from two living specimens
taken on leaf and twig of Corns san-
g-uinea 10 November 1887. The gen-
ital organs of one were exposed.
I have not been able to prove that
these males develop along with the
oviparous females from the migrating
winged viviparous form, and would not
be surprised if they were found to de-
velop on the same plants as the latter,
and fly to the colonies of the oviparous form, as has recently been proven to be
the case with the hop plant-louse (Pho-
rodon humuZi Schrank) .
Oviparous female.
Length of body . . . 1.30 mm.
Width ofbody . . . . 0.63 tnm.
Length of antennae . . 0.57 mm.
'' " cornicles . . 0.06 mm.
' "cauda . . . 0.08mm.
Green, with a glaucous bloom ; some-
what flattened, widest at middle and
tapering both ways. Cornicles and
margin of cauda, dusky ; sub-quadran-
gular dusky spot on anus. Eyes red-
dish-brown. Antennae slender, light
yellowish-brown, with dusky tips ;
6-jointed, I and I1 short, I11 long, IV
two-thirds as long as 111, filament long. Rostrum light yellowish-brown with
dusky tip ; reaching posterior coxae,
Legs light yqllowish-brown, tarsi
with dusky tips; coxae greenish ; pos-
terior tibiae distinctly swollen. Cauda
hairy.
Described from one specimen taken
in act of ovipositing in axil of twig of Cornus sawma, 24 October 1887.
Of many other specimens examined
the only perceptible difference was in
the depth of coloring of the body, the
older specimens becoming more or less
brownish.
Egg.
Elongate oval. 0.95
mm. long, 0.23
wide.
Green when first deposited but
becoming black by exposure.
Described from a specimen just laid
by the female mentioned above. Pro-
bably it would have shrunk some after
being laid.
APHIS SP. ON AMARANTUS ALBUS.
On 19 October 1887, I found a
species of Afihis very abundant on a
plant of Amwantus albus growing
near one of the university barns. So
far as I could see the species was rep-




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126 PSYCHE. [November-December 1888.
resented only by wingless males and
oviparous females, which abounded on
the under surface of the leaves. Many
pairs were mating, and many of the fe-
males were laying eggs on the under
surface of the leaves, especially along
the midrib. The eggs were of the nor-
mal form, light colored when first ex-
traded and becoming dark on exposure.
About a fortnight later when the plant
had been killed by frost the aphides
were abundant in the rubbish beneath
the plant and some of them had pene-
tnited
the soil about the roots. Both
forms were still abundant. A few had
wandered to a neighboring plant of
some species of Polys'onum.
I find no mention of any aphid infest-
ing Amarantus albus in this country,
and as the plant is supposed to be nat-
uralized from the tropics it probably
does not occur in Europe.
In Lich-
tenstein's* list of host-plants, in which are included all genera known to be
infested by aphides, Amaivntus is not
mentioned. Of course this species may
also occur on some other plant, but I
have found nothing like it in extensive
and careful collecting this fall. But
although it is probable that the species is unclescribed I prefer to leave it un- named (at least until the other forms
can be obtained) rather than run the
risk of uselessly burdening the synony-
my of the group.
Wingless male.
Width of body . . . . 0.50 mm.
Length of body . . . . 1.10 mm.
'' antennae . . 1.20 mm.
' " cornicles . . . 0.08 mm.
*Les pucerons, p. 76-140.
Flattened, long and narrow. Gen-
eral color black; mottled with green
especially on thorax and abdomen.
Head large, black, with a well devel-
oped frontal tubercle. Dorsum of tho-
rax black with more or less green on
margins. Dorsum of abdomen green-
ish black, more or less distinctly marked with black transverse patches, especi-
ally posteriorly. Cornicles, legs and
eyes black. Legs very long with short
stiff hairs. Antennae long, robust,
roughened with tubercles which are
quite large on basal joints, but smaller apically. Rostrum black, reaching
cephalic margin of posterior coxae.
Ventrum of thorax black, of abdomen
green.
Described from one living specimen
taken in copula on Amarantus albus,
19 October 1887.
Oviparous female.
Width of body . . . . 0.75 mm.
Lengthofbody . . . . 1.60 mm.
" " antennae . . 0.50 mm.
' " cornicles . . . 0.10 mm.
Body green, witli powdery white
flocculence, head dusky. Antennae
white with dusky tips, roughened by
sparse minute tubercles tipped with
fine short hairs. Legs whitish, with
dusky coxae and tarsi, and more or less
dusky on articulations ; somewhat hairy. Cornicles nearly color of body. Eyes
black. Anus and a quadrangular
patch just in front on ventrnm, dusky.
Rostrum not quite reaching middle
coxae ; dusky at base and apex.
Described from one living specimen
taken in copula on Amarantus albus,
20 October 1887.




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November-December 1888.1 l's2'-clYB. 12 7 Another specimen taken in copula
on the same plant at the same time is
slightly yellowish, and has the members
(cornicles, antennae, and legs) nearly
dusky throughout. A large number
of other specimens examined did not
differ materially from these two types.
This species was first described as
Aphis rudbeckiae by Dr. Fitch in the
Fourth report of the regents of the
University of New York (1851, p. 66).
The description is very brief and drawn
up from winged specimens (said to be
males) found uponRudbeckia la-cinkta,
Solidago serofina and S. gigantea.
No dates of collection are given.
In the Proceedings of the Entomo-
logical society of Philadelphia for
December, I 862 (vol. I, p. 298) Mr.
Walsh describes winged male and
female specimens of an aphid found on
Silfhium ferfoliatum and on an unde-
termined Cirsium which he doubtfully
identifies as Aphis deckiae. Certain
discrepancies as to color between his
specimens and those of Fitch are point-
ed out. No dates are given.
In Bulletin no. 2 of the Illinois State
laboratory of natural history (1877, p.
4) Dr. Cyrus Thomas includes this
species in his list of afhidz'ni referring it however to the genus Si-pJzonofhoċ´~*a The host plants mentioned are Rud-
beckia lacz'niata, Ambrosia trz'fida, and Solidago serotina. No descriptions
are given.
The species is next mentioned by
Mr. J. Monell (Bull. U. S. geol.
surv., vol. 5, p. 21), who records eleven host-plants, and remarks that the
species is probably the commonest of
all American aphidians. No life-his-
tory details are mentioned.
Again in the Eighth report of the
state entomologist of Illinois (p. 49-
so) Dr. Thomas gives a full description
of the winged viviparous female (though
whether the summer or a~itninn form we
cannot tell) and records the occurrence
of a green variety, but makes no men-
tion of the sexed forms, nor of the
method of hibernation.
The only other important mention of
the species that has come to my notice
is found in Professor 0. W. Oestlund's
recent list of the a$hidz'dae of Minne-
sota (op. cit., p. 20) where it is said to be found abundantly throughout the season
on Solidago sedna and Si//hium
perfoliatum. In discussing the apter-
ous males of an allied species (S.frt-
gidae Oestl~ind) the author states :
"Wingless males have been observed in
both of the above mentioned species"-
S. rudbeckiae and S. ambrosiae, but
he describes neither of them, and omits
to state whether the sex was ascertained by dissection or field observations. I
describe below a winged male. ofthe sex
of which there can be doubt, so that
this is another species in which apterous and winged males have been observed.
I watched carefrilly for apterous males
but found none. It is to be hoped that
in order to establish the fact beyond a
doubt the two forms of this sex may be
found in the same or adjoining col-
onies.




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128 P~s2 CfLE'. [ November-December 1888 My observations upon the species
began about the middle of October
1887, when I found the winged vivipa-
rous females {pseudogyna ċ´pufzfera
establishing colonies of sexed individ-
uals upon the leaves and stems of vari-
ous co@ositae, especially, Solidago
and Lactuca. Although the red speci-
mens were by far the commoner,
the green variety mentioned by Dr.
Thomas was frequently seen. The
first specimens seen in copula were
taken on 18 October, and the first
eggs were found on the stem of Lac-
tuca canadense on 28 October, in com-
pany with oviparous females.
On 9
November, a careful examination was
made of many
old plants which had
previously been infested by the lice
(as shown by the cast skins), but no
living specimens nor eggs were found.
The roots and the earth about the roots
was also examined with like result.
Two days later however the oviparous
females were found abundantly on the
under leaf-surface of many young plants
of Lactuca and MztJiIenbergia, where
they were depositing eggs freely. Hence
I concluded that the occurrence of eggs
on the steins of old plants is exceptional, and that the normal habit of the species is to deposit the eggs on the young
plants of such biennials or perennials
as it infests.
Winged viviparous female ($sew
dogyna fera') .
Expanseofwings. . . . 7.6mm.
Width of body (across thorax) 0.9 inm.
Length of body . . . . . . 3.0 mm.
' '
antennae . . . . 3.2 mm,
'
cornicles . . . . 1.0 mm.
" "
cauda . . . . . 0.3 mm.
Head dark reddish-brown, shining.
Prothorax of same color. ~esol and
metathorax slightly darker, shining.
Abdomen nearly black with a slight
greenish tinge, shining. Ventral sur-
face greenish black. Antennae long,
tapering, black except basal joint,
which is unicolorous with head: with
rows of rather sparse hairs.
Joint I
short, large ; I1 small ; I11 long, tuber- culate ; IVand V subequal, each nearly
as long as I11 ; VI very short, about as long as V ; VI-VII very long, slender.
Legs long, hairy ; distad of middle of
femora brownish-black, proximad dull
greenish- or yellowis11-brown. Corni-
cles very long, black, cylindrical, with flange at tip. Cauda^ long, greenish.
Rostrum green'ish with dtisky tip,
reaching second coxae. Tegulae green.
Insertion of veins yellowish green.
Costa brown ; cubitus yellowish ; stig-