24 



There are three grasshoppers or locusts very similar in size and form, 

 now known f>r<^at]y to injure the crops in tiio 

 United States, and we give figures of them all 

 in order t!iat our readers mny be able to recog- 

 nize tlieni. Firtst is tlie Caloptenus spretus^ 

 Uliler, (Fig. 2,) or western sjjecies, (Agric. 

 Eept. 1870, p. 70,) commonly known as the 

 _ hateful grasshopper, and found in the States 

 f west of the Mississippi, and in the liocky 

 JMonntains, in immense swarms, and whicli is 

 distinguished by its length of wing from the 

 "'*^' second, or common eastern species, Caloptenus 

 /emur-mihrum, Har., (Fig. 3,) the red legged grasshopper, which has 

 shorter wings, but otherwise is almost identically the same as the above j 

 and liistly, GEdipoda atrox. (Scudd.,) the Pacific species mentioned, and 

 figured at the beginning of this article. 



A NEW EEMEDY. — Thcodore Day writes to the Department as fol- 

 lows : 



The striped encumber beetle (Diahrotica vittata, Fab.) did not trouble me inucli last 

 epiinjij, but, after frost killed the vinos, I noticed pleuty of tliem on the soft pumpkiiiS, 

 and vent ronnd and killed them. If they gather so every fall, 1 think it would be a 

 good plan to leave ;ife\v soft puinpkin.s, and then go arouud every xileasaut day aud 

 destroy the in.sect8 collected upon them. 



Might not this plan work to advantage with the common squash-bug, 



Gofwcerus trlstis f It is at least worthy a trial. 



Egg-plant pests. — Dr. B. Foster, of Louisville, Mississippi, sends a 

 number of insects, which lie comj^lains of as very injurious to egg- 

 plants. It i^roves to be one of the blister- dies, Epicauta marginata, {cin- 

 erea of Lee.,) which feeds upon the foliage of butter-cup, potato, »S:c., 

 but it has never before been accused of injuring egg-plants. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTESl 



Absorption of moisture by leaves. — Mr. M. Cailletet has lately 

 been investigating the question as to whether the leaves of i)lants are 

 capable of absorbing water in a liquid state; and sums up the result of 

 his experiments, by stating that the fact seems to be demonstrated 

 that a ])lant growing in a humid soil and receiving by its roots the quan- 

 tity of water necessary to its normal condition, does not absorb tJie water 

 which moistens its leaves, but that such absorption takes jdaceassoonas 

 the leaves begin to wither, in consequence of the dessicatiou of tlie soil. 

 Jn this way he explains the ])lienomenon of certain plants maintaining 

 a healthy condition without any contact with the soil, and even abso- 

 lutely isohited from all assimilable substances. Thus, a specimen of 

 Poiirreten a rootless Biomeliaceous plant, maintained a healthy existence 

 and exliibited considerable increase in weight, while suspended fur more 

 than six years in the air by a wire. No moisture ever reached it except 

 that from the garden syringe, and yet it was continually putting out new 

 leaves and Howeiing abundantly. 



CoMP(jsiTiON of the ALBUMEN OF EGGS. — The albumen of the 

 white of eg^ has lately been shown to consist of two distinct varieties; 

 one having its nmximum point of coagulation at 03°, the other at about 

 74P. In addition to these there is a case in substance, one known 



