48 
developments proved their fears to be well grounded. Letters of 
inquiry and packages of specimens came to me from all directions, and 
during a trip about the first of June, to Butler County, on the southern 
boundary of the State, I was able to observe for myself the dwarfed 
and sickly appearance of small grain everywhere along the railroad, 
attributable in all cases to the attacks of this insect. Shortly after- 
ward the outfields in St. Louis County and in many other localities 
were plowed up and replanted to corn, which, owing to the drought and 
to its own insect enemies, was, in its turn, a poor crop. The unusual 
prevalenceand unparalleled multiplication of Aphidide was undoubtedly 
due to to the scarcity of their natural enemies, both parasitic and pre. 
daceous. It was not until the middle of June that the larvie of Syrphi. 
de, Coccinellide, and Chrysopa became numerous, and, reénforced by 
parasites of the genera Aphidius and Trioxys, finally brought relief from 
the pests; too late, however, to prevent irreparable injury to many 
herbaceous crops, young fruit trees, and various sorts of shrubbery. 
A somewhat remarkable development of the season was the appear- 
ance in unusual numbers of many insects not often accounted noxious, 
and the reappearance of some species not observed in this locality for 
many years. : : 
Among the former may be mentioned the great abundance and variety 
of “ stinging” larvie, principally Limacodes. For the first time in my 
experience the beautiful larvee of Parasa chloris were so abundant on 
some young apricot trees in the orchard of one of our neighbors as to 
do great damage to the foliage. When full grown, three-fourths or 
more of an inch in length, thick, oblong, sub-eylindrical, gaily striped 
longitudinally in carmine red, purple, and bright yellow, the stinging 
spines concealed in the two rows of deflected bright yellow plumes that 
adorn the back, gliding with slow, graceful motion over the leaves, they 
were almost too ornamental to doom to destruction. As they were 
very voracious, however, the latter was a necessity of the case. Those 
that were preserved were fed to maturity on the leaves of Chickasaw 
plum, to which they were transferred without difficulty. 
Huclea querceti H.8., of the same form and size as P. chloris, but much 
less brilliantly colored, being of a dull, mottled green, with two or four 
dark purple-red spots on each side of the dorsum, and having the plu- 
mose spines pale green, appeared on Plum, Cherry, and Apple in the 
orchard, as well as on Sycamore, Post Oak, and Wild Cherry in the 
forest. It was not, however, in any destructive numbers on any fruit 
tree. < 
So far as coloration is concerned this larva varies greatly. The crim- 
son sub-dorsal spots, usually quite large when there are but two, are 
in some examples smaller and less conspicuous and are followed pos- 
teriorly by a second pair. The longitudinal ridges on which these are 
situated, and from which also proceed the larger urticating spines, 
vary in hue from pale pea green to yellow and bright orange. A second 
