THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ever deposits its eggs on an animal, except 

 it be the victim of a running sore ; but at 

 the period alluded to above, it appeared 

 that there was scarcely animal food enough 

 to feed the maggots of this numerous host. 

 It is but once within my recollection that I 

 have witnessed this phenomenon, and 

 neither before nor since have I heard of 

 such ravages of the green fly. Why they 

 should have existed in such incredible 

 numbers at the time referred to is a' 

 question not to be easily answered." 



Extracts from Correspondence. 



[We shall publish in this Department such extracts from the 

 letters of our correspondents as contain entomological facts 

 worthy to be recorded, on account either of their scientific or 

 of their practical importance. We hope our readers will con- 

 tribute each their several mites towards the general fund ; and 

 in case they are not perfectly certain of the names of the in- 

 sects, the peculiarities of which are to be mentioned, will send 

 specimens along in order that each species may be duly 

 identified.] 



A NEW CABBARE WORM. 



I have something new. It is a new 

 Cabbage worm, the larva of Pioiiea [Oru- 

 hena\ rimosalis Guen., which appeared late 

 the past season, remaining on the cabbages 

 till toward the end of November. It is 

 very destructive, doing as much injury to 

 my cabbages after it appeared as the im- 

 ported Cabbage worm {Pieris rupee) which 

 has been very destructive here this season. 

 The larva, when full grown, is six- or seven- 

 tenths of an inch long (a i6-legged Pyralid 

 larva); slender, slightly flattened ; head 

 shining greenish-yellow ; dorsal portion 

 of the body down to the breathing pores 

 purplish-brown ; this portion marked with 

 numerous transverse whitish lines, two or 

 three to a segment ; a narrow, pale yellow 

 line along the region of the stigmata ; 

 underside pale green. In the breeding 

 cages they went down to the soil, but not 

 into it, to pupate ; forming a slight, 

 regularly shaped, oval cocoon, thickly 

 covered over with sand. 



Miss Middleton's record shows as fol- 

 lows : " Went into the pupa state Sep- 

 tember i2th, 13th, and 14th; moths ap- 

 peared i6th to 22d, and on to Oct. ist." 



After this there was another brood of 

 worms, my de.scription having been taken 

 from living specimens, Nov. 21st. 



The eggs I have not seen, but from the 

 fact that the young feed somewhat together 

 (though not really in companies) I presume 

 a number are laid together. 



These worms eat, as a general thing, 



elongate oval holes in the leaves, gradually 

 extending them until nothing but the larger 

 veins remain. 



They also bore directly into the heads, 

 to the depth of, or rather through three or 

 four leaves ; a habit, so far as my ex- 

 perience goes, wrongly ascribed to the 

 larva of P. rapx, which will seldom eat 

 through even one leaf of a solid head until 

 it is at least slightly loosened. 



Lime, ashes, brine, salt, elder decoction 

 and lye as strong as the cabbages can bear, 

 and other substances tried, have even less 

 effect ' upon them than on the imported 

 cabbage worm. The lye, fresh made, of 

 strong ashes, did more good than anything 

 else tried. 



I have ascertained that some varieties of 

 the cabbage suffer much less from P. rapa 

 than others, and that bringing them for- 

 ward two or three weeks earlier than usual 

 so as to have the heads pretty well formed 

 before full brood appears, is also an excel- 

 lent plan to counteract them. 



Cyrus Thomas, Carbondale, 111. 



[This is the first instance which has come 

 to our knowledge, of Pionca rimosalis in- 

 juring cabbage. It is interesting, as illus- 

 trating the unity of habit in the genus 

 which essentially feeds on Crucifera. The 

 larva P. forficalis L., is very destructive 

 to cabbages in Europe, working very much 

 as Prof. Thomas has described in the case 

 of rimosalis. — Edl\ 



Answers to Correspondents. 



[We hope to make this one of the most interesting and in- 

 structive departments of the Entomologist. All inquiries 

 about insects, injurious or otherwise, should be accompanied 

 by specimens, the more the better. Such specimens, if dead, 

 should be packed in some soft material, as cotton or wool, and 

 inclosed in some stout tin or wooden box. They will come 

 by mail for one cent per ounce. Insects should neveu be 



ENCLOSED LOOSE IN H HE LETTER. 



Whenever possible, larvae (/. ^., grubs, caterpillars, maggots, 

 etc.l should be packed alive, in some tight tin box — the tighter 

 tlie better, a> air-holes are not needed — along with a supply of 

 their appropriate food sufficient to last them on their journey ; 

 otherwise they generally die on the road and shrivel up. If 

 dead when sent, they should be packed in cotton moistened 

 with alcohol. Send as full an account as possible of the habits 

 of the insect respecting which you desire information j for 

 example, what plant or plants it infests ; whether it destroys 

 the leaves, the buds, the twig.s, or the stem ; how long it has 

 been known to you ; what amount of damage it has done, etc. 

 Such particulars are often not only of high scientific interest 

 but of^ great practical importance.] 



Borers in Black Ash— Fall Web Worm- 

 Apple Tree Insects — I liavc this day expressed 

 a box of Black Ash wood and the worms found 

 therein. [i.| Also a tent of leaf-worm that has 

 long infested the Ash of western New York. 

 The}^ have sometimes been so numerous at to 

 defoliate trees before autumn. |2.] The enclosed 

 apples show marks of the so-called gimlet-worm, 

 which attacks full grown apples. It is quite 

 distinct from the Codling Moih ; is a comparative 

 new-comer, and is fast increasing. [3. ] The small 



