17 



the middle of next month, and Profs. Packard and Thomas are to have theirs completed about 

 the same time, when the commission will convene again and submit their labours as one work 

 to the Government. 



The result of the investigation of the commission has verified previous reports of Prof. 

 Itiley's individual investigations, and the commissioners are all of the opinion that a recur- 

 rence of the grasshopper plague can be prevented. Tht'y have found the native home of the 

 insects ; they know on what thsy feed, and when and under what conditions they migrate, 

 the direction they take, and the distince they go, and the length of time they remain before 

 they commence their homeward flight again. They know, also, the fatal effect that heavy 

 rains and sudden changes of weather have on them, and that smoke will kill them as quickly 

 as fire. They know, too, the parasites which live on the grasshoppers, and the birds — particu- 

 larly the graokle imd the English rook — that feed upon them. Knowing all this, they believe 

 that the migration from British America can be, in a great measure, stopped, and that in 

 case they do vi.sit the fields of Missouri, Kansas, and other States of the union, the farmers 

 can be forewarned in time to prepare for them with fire and water. The commission will 

 recommend measures to Congress, looking to a Governmental treatment of this pl.igue at its 

 next occurrence. 



NOTES ON LARV^— FONDNESS FOR WATER— HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 



BY C. O. 8IEWERS, NEWPORT, KY. 



{From the Canadian Entomologist.) 



Last spring, while collecting beetles under the bark of decayed logs, T met with numbers 

 of the larvie of Arctia isahella (hairs brown in the middle, black at each end of larva), about 

 to spin up. Not knowing their hybernating habits, they had always baffled me, and under 

 the impression that they wuuld re(|uire another season to mature, had been turned loose. I 

 collected some twenty, put them into a box with cotton and paper scrap, and they at once 

 spun up, all but four. These wandered up and down for a week, having some want, and 

 wasting away. It struck me they might want water. Wetting a sable, I proffered a drink. 

 They all drank greedily, grasping the brush with their fore-legs, and even following it around 

 1 watered them two or three days but tired of this and threw them out. The .same day they 

 were found .spinning up on the fence. This spring I collected another lot, and gave them 

 some curved b irk to spin in. Ab.iut one-half refused to spin. I soused them with water. 

 Two remained contumacious, but another wetting brought them to terms. 'J"he black larva 

 of the Great Leopard Moth, EriKiitheria, hybernates also, spins up about the first of June, 

 and emerges about the 15th with us. Feeds on Poke-berry plant, and will eat cabb^ige. I 

 failed to winter some twenty this season. Either they dry up in the house, or mould in the 

 cellar. They should be wintered out-doors, in a box without bottom placed on the ground 

 and half-filled with leaves and brush, exposed to the weather, but having proper draiaace. 

 They come out of the leaves in the spring distended by moisture. Whether they feed before 

 spininng is uncertain. I collect them in the fall at the foot of willow trees, when digging up 

 the pupa of Smerinthns geminatus. 



It is generally claimed that moist leaves will induce scouring in the Bombix mori, but 

 out-door larvae get abundance of rain and dew, and may require it. In confinement thoy fail 

 to get their full growth. Their food should be sprinkled daily. The greit dilHculty of keep- 

 ing the food fresh deters many from rearing larva;. To such I would say, try tin boxes or 

 glass jars. Clean daily and keep moist. Two or three drops of water are sufficient. I have 

 had a lot of empty fruit cans capped, and have kept food fresh in them for ten days. When 

 the nearest food plant is three miles distant this is some object. I find that they do not re- 

 quire light, and but little air. When they cease feeding, remove to spinning or ground 

 boxes. The ground must be kept moist, or the larva will be unable to remove the skin 

 around the thorax, and strangle. If thcv find it too dry they will come out and try to es- 

 cape. Many wander about for a day or two before burying themselves. Covering the ground 

 with sod often expedites matters. When ten days have passed they may be sifted" out to 

 give place for others, and laid out in another ground box on top, as it is preferable to have 



