58 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



these .appendages and hiding them from view is a brush of black hairs, forming a con- 

 ical tuft at the end of the abdomen, blunt at its apex. The legs are more or less 

 denuded of scales, black and shining, with the hind shanks thicker toward their tips 

 and with two pairs of spurs, the forward shanks having only a single spine, which is 

 placed on the middle of their inner sides, the same as in other moths ; and the feet are 

 compressed and five-jointed, with the basal joint longest and the following ones suc- 

 cessivelj^ shorter. The fore wings are black, with groups of whitish scales forming 

 gray spots or clouds which are netted with black lines, varying greatly in ditferent 

 individuals. Often a transverse gray spot is situated towards the base and another 

 on the anal angle, the outer and hind margins being gray alternated with black. The 

 hind tvings are black, with their posterior half of arich marigold yellow color bordered 

 with a black line upon the hind margin, the yellow color being irregularly notched 

 on its anterior side and narrowed to the inner angle, and not extended to the outer 

 angle, the two outer cells being black. The outer or anterior margin, except at its 

 base and tip, is usually gray alternated with transverse black streaks and blotches, 

 and inside of this is a large ash-gray spot occupying the outer anterior part of the 

 disk. The under sides of both wings are similar to their upper surface. 



The female would not be supposed to pertain to the same species with the male, her 

 size is so much larger, her colors so much paler gray, and her hind wings being wholly 

 destitute of the bright yellow coloring which forms so conspicuous a mark in the 

 other sex. The branches of her antennae are also shorter, being but about four times 

 as long as thick. The ground color of her fore wings is gray, variously netted with 

 black lines dividing the gray in places into small roundish spots and into rings hav- 

 ing black centers. The black color usually forms a broad irregular band across the 

 middle of the wings parallel with the hind margin, and another between thisand the 

 hind edge, chiefly on the outer half of the wing, the hind edge and fringe being whitish 

 alternated with black spots placed on the tips of the veins. The hind wings are dusky 

 gray and towards their bases blackish, their posterior half being freely transparent 

 and faintly netted with darker lines. The body is densely coated with gray scales, 

 its under side hoary white; and the legs are gray, with black bands on the shanks, 

 and black feet, with gray rings at their articulations. 



Remedies. — We have but a single suggestion to make upon the subject of remedies 

 against this truly formidable though fortunately rare enemy. It is probable that soft 

 soap applied the fore part of June to the bodies of trees will be equally efficacious 

 against this and other borers as it is against that of the apple tree. This remedy may 

 well be resorted to, to protect the locusts and oaks which we value as ornamental 

 trees; and scarce and valuable as timber is becoming in all the older settled sections 

 of our country, I doubt not it will be found to be good economy to bestow similar 

 attention upon the more valuable trees standing in our forests. 



It should also be observed that whenever a hole made by a borer is discovered in 

 the trunk of a tree, it should be immediately closed by inserting a plug therein, to 

 exclude the wet which will otherwise be admitted hereby to the interior of the tree 

 and produce a decay of the surrounding wood. — (Fitch's Fifth Report, pp. 4-10.) 



4. The lesser oak carpenter worm. 



Prionoxystus querdperda (Fitch). 



Order Lepidoptera ; Family CossiDJi. 



(PI. II, Figs. 4, 5.) 



Auother and rather smaller Cossid, but belonging to a closely allied 

 species, was found by Mr. J. A. Lintuer resting upon the trunk of an 

 oak tree in Schoharie, N. Y, It probably ranges all over the Eastern 

 States and Mississippi Valley, since a species, either this or closely allied, 

 is reported to us by Mr. G. W. Belfrage to inhabit central Texas. Dr. 



