(U2 [December 



and the blossoms of the clover. But it is not the general habit of In- 

 sects to prey at the same time upon two plants, which are so widely dis- 

 tinct as wheat and clover — the one monocotyledonous, the other dico- 

 tyledonous. Even the polyphagous Army-worm refuses to eat clover. 

 Hid. The •• curled" peach-leaves are said to be commonly inhabited by 

 a Thrips, but not in sufficient numbers to account for the presence of 

 the " Curl." (Harr. InJ. Lis. p. 240.) Now, as already stated, I have my- 

 self noticed several T]n-!p>< in June both in the larva and imago state 

 on the Cecidomyidous gall S. sem'f/ma, and have raised the larva to ma- 

 turity in a breeding-jar in which there was nothing but that gall. 

 Moreover, Dr. Fitch found his Phlocuthrips caryse in hickory galls, 

 which are manifestly either closely allied to or identical with the Ceci- 

 domyidous hickory gall Tubicola 0. S., though he doubts whether those 

 galls were produced by the Thrips or by some other insect. {N. Y. 

 Rep. II. p. 165.) And Osten Sacken observes of the galls of the Ceci- 

 domyidous Lasioptera vitis 0. S., that " some of the hollows are often 

 abandoned by their inmates and invaded by numerous Thrips." (Dipt. 

 N.A. p. 201.) 



There are more insectivorous groups in Insecta than are commonly 

 supposed. I have caught />?s^_5^/-ci/;7i».s dngulatns Grv. (^Coleoptera)^ 

 which habitually haunts cow-dungs and carrion, with a large Hintcr in 

 its mouth, and I believe, from sundry other facts, that in Staph ylhiidse.., 

 which used to be all of them grouped as Rhypophaga or Dirt-eaters, 

 the tribes tStaphylinini, Psederini, and probably Stenini and Oxytelini, 

 are all generally insectivorous; while I know from having bred them, 

 that some and probably all Omaluii are fungivorous, and suspect that 

 Alpocharini and Tachyporini are also " dirt-eaters." Again, I have 

 often wondered that for seven successive years the number of the web- 

 nests oi Hyphantn'a textor Harris {hepidopterd) remained, from year to 

 year, an invariable quantity near Rock Island, neither increasing nor 

 diminishing, though the number of eggs laid by each $ must be repre- 

 sented by the number of larvte in a nest, which is very large. The larvae 

 can scarcely be preyed on to any very great extent by the ordinary Dip- 

 terous and Hymenopterous Parasites nor by birds, for they are effectu- 

 ally protected the greater part of the time by their impenetrable nests ; 

 and the Coleopterous genus Calosoma, which is known to prey on social 

 caterpillars, is exceedingly rare near Rock Island. This autumn the 



