132 



SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF 



as pronotum and without spiracles. Abdomen, with 8 subequal segments, with two well defined 

 lateral impressed lines, and al! hut the last bearing between these lines, a rounded brown tubercu- 

 lar spiracle, the posterior upper borders lined with white. The first segment is simple and extends 

 to the tips of the wing-sheaths ; the others are all furnished, on the posterior one- third, with an an- 

 nulus of line, yellowish bristles, depressed and directed backwards. Anal thorn robust, .yellow, 

 truncated, and furnished with six stout brown thorns, hexagonally arranged. Length 1.20 inches ; 

 greatest diameter 0.30 inch. One $ specimen. 



This large Black Breeze-fly does not attack horses to any consid- 

 erable extent that I am aware of, but is said to bite cattle. The 

 smaller species of real Horse-flies mentioned above, and which oc- 

 cur in prodigious numbers on our Western prairies, away from any 

 large streams of water, must evidently be terrestrial in the larva 

 state, and not aquatic, and must just as surely live on other food than 

 snails, which are quite rare on the prairies. They are certainly car- 

 nivorous however, and it is but natural to suppose that they feed on 

 underground vegetable-feeding larvae, such as the different kinds of 

 white grubs, the larvae of Crane-flies ( Tipulidce), etc. Thus, in all prob- 

 ability, they perform a most important part in the economy of Na- 

 ture, by checking the increase of those underground larvas which are 

 the most unmanageable of the farmer's foes. They therefore partly 

 atone for the savage and blood-thirsty character of the perfect females, 

 and I prefer consequently to place them with the other Innoxious In- 

 sects. 



GALLS MADE BY MOTHS. 



As a sequence to the article on the Solidago Gall Moth ( Gelechia 

 gallmolidaginisy Riley) published in my former Report, I will here 

 describe two other gall-making moths, with which I was not then ac- 

 quainted, the first of which, as I have since ascertained, occurs in this 

 State. The other I have never yet met with. 



THE FALSE INDIGO GALL-MOTH— WaUhia amorphclla, Clemens. 

 (Lepidoptera, Tineidae.) 



On the leafless stems of the False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) 

 may often be seen, during the fall, winter and spring months, anelon- 



[Fig. 98.] 



pearance, with an irregular brown 



gated swelling such as that 

 shown at Figure 98, c, two 

 of them often occurring 

 one above the other. This 

 swellingis a simple enlarge- 

 ment of the stem to five or 

 six times its natural diam- 

 eter, and measures from 

 three-quarters of an inch to 

 an inch in length. If cut 

 open during any of the win- 

 ter months, the interior will 

 present a tough woody ap- 

 channel, almost always 



