455 
belong to the genus Eudryas, and are of a milk-white color, with the wings beautifully bor- 
dered with brown, and greenish and waved with blue. These insects are not so common as 
some of the aforenamed. The larvee of the miller moths sometimes infest the grape vines. 
These belong to the genus Spilosoma, and are of various species. The caterpillars are from an 
inch to an inch and a half and more in length, and are densely covered with long yellow or 
white hairs. The mature insects are mostly virgin white, and are commonly called ‘‘millers.”’ 
There are also several species of insects of the order Orthoplera, which feed sometimes upon 
grape leaves, pretty much all belonging to the genus Ccanthus, but commonly called * tree 
crickets.” Indeed, all of the insects belonging to this order, except a single species, in this 
country, are leaf eaters, and it might possibly transpire that they all would eat grape leaves 
if they could obtain nothing else more palatable. These tree crickets are usually found on 
the vines in the month of August, but are as often found on other species of vegetation, 
especially on trees, as they are on the vine, but they somehow cannot be very prolific, as I 
have never, in twenty-five years, found more than two or three together in the same place. 
They are only noticed here because they belong to the company of noxious insects that 
infest the grape vines; and, although they may do little or no harm, yet it is quite certain 
that they do no good. These insects are mostly of a white, or pale yellowish or greenish 
tint in color. The females are of a darker color than the males, and might easily be, and 
no doubt often have been, mistaken for a different species. “Their antennze are exceedingly 
long and thread-like; the feet are also long and slender, especially the posterior pair, which 
. are more than twice as long as the anterior and medial pair. The wing-covers are shaped 
like a boy’s ‘‘ bat,” and overlap each other horizontally on the back. The total length of 
the most prominent species ( CZ. niveus) is about half an inch from the head to the end of the 
abdomen, but the wings extend a quarter of an inch beyond. Like the ‘‘katydid,” to 
which they have a family alliance, they sometimes enter houses in the cool evenings in Sep- 
tember, and make a sharp, shrill monotonous noise, which is often continued throughout the 
night, tothe great annoyance of many nervous people. So far as concerns a preventive 
or a remedy tor the foregoing insects, what would be applicable and useful against one 
species might perhaps be employed with the same efficacy against the whole of them, or 
any others found upon the grape vines, of which there are a number of species, which space 
will not permit me to mention in this paper. In enumerating remedies, allow me to remark 
in the beginning, that boxes put up for wrens and bluebirds, in the grapery, have been 
found effectual, although not wholly so. Some insects appear in such vast numbers, and 
multiply so rapidly, that birds seem to have a surfeit of them, and at length to cease cap- 
. turing and feeding upon them, especially towards autumn, when the ripened fruit begins to 
appear. Therefore, birds ought not to be depended upon wholly. Syringing with decoce- 
tions of tobacco, and saline and saponaceous solutions, ought to be resorted to instead. 
Much has been claimed quite recently for diluted sharp vinegar—say half and half or two- 
thirds water, or even three-fourths—according to the particular insects, or the season, and 
state of the vegetation, to which it is applied. Diluted carbolic and cresylic acid—say a 
half pint of the acid to a gallon of saponified water—comes recommended as a “‘sure cure” 
for nearly all insects. It is claimed, at least, that alult insects will not deposit their eggs 
where this acid has been employed; besides, it is a good antiseptic and disinfectant. These 
acids can now be obtained in our drug stores, and sell at about one dollar a pound, which 
is about three half pints of the fluid acid; but they can also be obtained solid, for about 
seventy-five cents a pound. 
Within the last two days an imposing circular has been placed in my hands, purporting to 
have been issued by J. Ahearn, No. 63 Second street, Baltimore, Maryland, in which is adver- 
tised a new patent remedy for the destruction or prevention of all insects of whatsoever kind 
that infest vegetation, and especially the different kinds of fruit trees; and for the invigora- 
tion of trees, shrubbery, and plants. It is called ‘‘Best’s Patent Fruit Tree and Vine Invigo- 
rator,” and claims a great deal—perhaps too much—much more, I apprehend, than will ever 
be realized. I will not condemn it, however, unheard and untried; there may be something 
in it; moreover, it comes with a large number of horticultural recommenders, principally 
from Maryland, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. From Pennsylvania there is only one—Mr. 
Nathan W. Secrist, of Middletown, Dauphin county—who, it appears, has purchased the 
right of that county. I am acquainted personally with only one of these recommenders, 
and he is a man of intelligence and integrity. It might perhaps be well for fruit-growers 
to make a trial of this remedy, if they have not already done so; but as I know nothing 
more of it than what I have seen in punt, I can do nothing more than make this sugges- 
tion at this time, leaving it optional with those interested to try it or not. A remedy of some 
kind is so very desirable at the present time, that fruit-growers must submit to the liability of 
being deceived, in order that a reliable remedy may be discovered, and unreliable ones may be 
exposed. Whatever the remedy may be, however, in order to be successful, those who use 
it should apply it perseveringly aud judiciously, in order that its true merits may be devel- 
oped, because an injudicious and partial application may be worse than none at all. Most 
of the insects mentioned in this paper are more or less preyed upon by insect parasites, so 
that they may really not be so formidable as they seem, bad us they are; and these parasites 
render a greater assistance in arresting the multiplication of some species than is apparent 
to the casual observer. Trogus fulous, a beautitul reddish-brown wasp, with black shining 
