Ladybird beetles, or ladybugs, have had their name since the Middle Ages, when people looked upon them as a gift from the
Virgin Mary because of their miraculous eating habits. As both larvae and adults, ladybugs feed on aphids and other agricultural
pests. In the late 19th century, California farmers released ladybugs to save the fruit crop from devastation by the
cottony-cushion scale insect.
