AGRICULTURAL ZCK I 7 1-;;- 



sklered would be equal to any of the ■ eeies of the silk-worm, should p io pe i at- 



tention be devoted to it. He had found the caterpillar principally on the ceanothni 

 he had applied to it this specific name. The Chinese produce their silk from the 

 atlae, to which species this is doubtlessly superior. Dr. Befar presented drawings of the 

 worm in three different stage- : . jrowth. 



On the Orange Insects. 



At a recent meeting of the B-- Bowing paper on the 



insect s : rive of late years I range-trees of Florida, compiled from the notes of 



the late Dr. Burnett, was read by Dr. A. A. Gould : — 



Dr. Gould observed, that during the -winter of 18->3— 4 - — Dr. Burnett spent in 



:1a, he undertook, ar: liner researches, to investigate the structure and natural his- 



■ of the orange insect. 7 : the Coccus tribe, which, wifnm : ■ 



years, has so invaded the orange-groves as almost totally to destroy them. Ba essay 

 commenced by him was left in a very imperfect state ; and conjectured that he had 



prepared other materials, so as to illustrate his paper with delineations in detail, but which 

 are either in other hands or have been 1 



For the execution of his purpose, Dr. Bum- ted a place called Mandarin, forma lly 



of considerable wealth, where, it is sod, twenty msria — :ght at once be rwnnrtimfn seen 

 loading, but now in ruins. In 15-37— S. Mr. Robertson carried to that place from 5ew York 

 two small orange-trees, about two feet in he _ ring fruit about the sixe of an egg, 



with the insect upon them. The first year it was not known what they were, but in three 

 years they had spread 0Ter the whole point. The annual yield at this time was aboat 

 ) oranges, worth about $10 a thousand. The orange-growers reported that the 

 orange insect would spread during July and A -he prickly ash. Dr. Burnett did 



not this, bat noticed the same insect on the lemon. 



Bk asset has eight segmen - bet . ies the triangular head-piece. The fem al e s are from 

 sVth to sVth of an inch in length. They usually contain front eight to fifteen eggs, the 

 development of which continues all winter. The males are from 5*?th to ?Yth of an inch in 

 length, and are winged. The wlrr? lie over each other horizontally on the back when at 

 rest. They are ~: :->. but behind them are halteres, consisting of a single joint, with a 

 process curved like a shepherd's crook. The wings consist, as usual, of flattened cells. 

 The legs have the middle pair d one-jointed; abdomen, rounded. ( eight- 



joint e-i. ) with a teat-like process at the end, from which extends a long stile, composed of 

 two semi-canals. The mouth and oral apparatus n rudimentary, though the anUrwnjB are 

 ten-j oinied and highly developed. The internal organs of nutrition are deficient or rudi- 

 mentary in this r : responding with the oral parts. The eyes are four, two on each 

 e proper is oval, situated laterally, and consisting of a solid body. TsVrth of an 

 inch in diameter, perfectly structureless, imbedded in a dark-red pigment, and covered « 

 a tbin cornea. The accessory eyes are anterior and lateral from the others, and of tne same 

 structure. The j-'^.z. when excluded, are not folly formed, but remain under the shield 

 of the mother until developed and able to crawl away : but as she nay aore along during 

 ovij - - may be found behind or arouzi h^r 7: I hat one side 

 leaf is -found covered with the scales of males aim:- i -:uldseeato 

 favor the idea that they are produced as a distinct brood : and another fact, also, that among 

 a hundred specimens, old and young, examined during the winter, almost all were females, 

 and only, by chance, was one male found to be near. 



On the Protection of the Plum-Tree, 



A cOKKKSPOSTtEXT of the Counrry G T -:'rn\r. •»- _ . 



the following details of his successful experience in cultivating the plan. He says : I 

 attribute my success mainly to an hereditary strain of Yankee principle, producing a strong 



