472 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW- YORK 



CHESTXUT. FRUIT. 



antemife and legs render them the prettiest objects belonging to 

 the aphis family. 



203. Chestxut leaf-witheeeRj Phylloxera ? CastanetB, Haldeman. (Ho- 

 moptera. Aphidas.) 



In August and September, on both sides of the leaves, punctur- 

 ing them and extracting their juices and causing them to curl, a 

 very small louse-like fly of a bright sulphur-yellow color with a 

 black thorax, breast and eyes, its feet and antennae tinged with 

 blackish and its wings translucent. The wingless individuals 

 associated with it are entirely yellow wiith red eyes. 



I have never met with this species. The veins or nerves of the 

 wings are described as follows : " First and third transverse ner- 

 vures normal; second arising from the middle of the first and 

 terminating in the normal position; posterior wings without ner- 

 vures." From this description the veins appear to be essentially 

 different from those of the genus Chermesj to which Prof. Halde- 

 man refers this species. And I cannot but think that more exact 

 observations will detect a rib-vein in the hind wings, and will 

 show that this insect pertains to the genus Phylloxera. 



The larva of the American maple moth {^Jipatela Americana^ 

 Harris), a large thick-bodied caterpillar two inches long and of a 

 pale yellow color with two black pencils above on the fourth and 

 sixth rings and a single one near its tip, feeds upon the leaves in 

 August, but is much more common on the maple, under which 

 head it will be described. 



AFFECTING THE FRUIT. 



One would suppose that the fruit of the chestnut, wholly 

 inclosed as it is in a thick leathery bur, the surface of which is 

 crowded with prickles with their needle-like tips pointing in 

 every direction, Avas so effectually protected that no depredator 

 could possibly reach it, or if attacked, we should think it could 

 only be by some small insect panoplied like the rhinoceros, its 

 hard shelly coat enabling it to encounter these prickles without 

 harm. It is most wonderful, therefore, to discover that a little 

 insect with a soft tender body, has the artifice of inserting its eggs 



