THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



several from about one plant. To test 

 their habits, I put a maggot in a bottle 

 with them. When hungry, a single one 

 alone will attack a full-sized maggot, tear- 

 ing open its sides and feasting upon it. I 

 have seen five of them like a pack of wolves, 

 cling to and tear a writhing maggot, killing 

 it quickly. They are wonderfully active, 

 and promise to be the best enemy against 

 the fly, which has ruined so many crops 

 here. — W. S. Barnard. 



Carnivorous propensity of plant- 

 . FEEDERS. — On the i7thof July we collected 

 near Atlanta, Ga., from one and the same 

 cabbage head, 2 larvae of Plicsia brassicic, 

 2 of Picris rapce-, and 3 of Pionea riinosalis. 

 Upon looking at them on the 20th, hav- 

 ing had no opportunity meanwhile to fur- 

 nish them with food, the Plusia larvre had 

 devoured all the others, and it were doubt- 

 less but a question of time as to which of 

 these two would finally succumb to the 

 other, in default of more natural food. — 

 Sclma, Ala., July 21, 1880. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



[Wc hope to make this one of the most interesting .ind 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 never be 



ENCLOSED LOOSE IN THE LETTER. 



Whenever possible, larvse (i. e., grubs, caterpillars, maggots, 

 etc.) should be packed alive, in some tight tin bo.v — the tighter 

 the better, as 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 ; for 

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

 the leaves, the buds, the twigs, 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] 



Beetles injuring Cabbages and Fuchsias.— 



The larger specimens in the box I send )'ou with 

 this are the cabbage-eating beetle I mentioned 

 the other day. It comes from near Felton, Del., 

 where it is " destroying early cabbages, eating the 

 leaves and sucking (he juice from the stems." 

 Not noticed before this season. 



The little fellow — in a paper within the box — 

 (a Chrysomelid ?) is from Norfolk, Va., where it 

 swooped down in "a cloud," and in two hours 

 ruined over 600 blooming plants of Fuchsias, 

 Paris green killed the beetles, but spoiled the 

 looks of the plants, and they can not be sold. 

 Appeared to toucli no other plants, — G. T., New 

 York, N. Y., June 20, iSSo. 



The beetle injurious to early cabbages is the 

 Imbricated Snout-beetle {Epicirrus imbricatus 



Say, Fig.io6), a snout-beetle belonging, according 

 to tlie recent classification of the Khynchophora, to 

 the family Otiorhynchidir. It occurs quite fre- 

 quently in all the more southern States east of the 

 [Fig. 106.] 



Epicurus imbricatus (after Riley). 



Rocky Mountains, under sticks, stones, and va- 

 rious plants. It often does considerable injury 

 to fruit trees, and even to gooseberry bi;s!ies, by 

 gnawing the trees and fruit, and in some years it 

 is to be found on all sorts of plants. In 1873 it 

 was quite injurious to ccin, but we liavc not be- 

 fore heard of its injuring cabbages. 



The little green beetle so injurious to Fuchsias 

 at Norfolk, Va., is, as you suppose, a Chiysoiiu-lid, 

 sub-family Hallicidic, or Flea-icetl.-s, and is known 

 as Graptodem. carhiata Germ. It is a very com- 

 mon species, feeding upon a great variety of 

 plants, and we found it very injurious to Fuch- 

 sias in 1S74, at St. Louis, especially on the 

 grounds of Mr. J. M. Jordan. It also attacks 

 many other greenhouse plants. 



The beetles fiy in summer, and first appear 

 during the month of June. 



Tlie eggs, which are o. yi""- long, about one- 

 third as wide, orange, opaque, not shining, are 

 laid fiat on the side, in irregular masses of 5 to 

 10, on the underside of the leaf. Generally a lit- 

 tle streak of excrement is found along the top of 

 the mass. The larvas have very much the same 

 appearance as those of the Grapevine Flea-beetle 

 illustrated in this number. We have noticed 

 that when they affect Fuchsias they first prefer 

 small-loliaged or narrow-leaved varieties, like 

 " Elm City." The same species often swarms on 

 Fire-weed (Erechthites hicracifolid). 



In our experience we found that the use of 

 Paris green did but little good, but Pyrethrum 

 not only numbed them, but kept them off the 

 plants until it was necessar)'to water them again. 



We have reared it from larvae found feeding on 

 the common Evening Primrose (Oenothera bien- 

 nis). Its natural history is the same as that of 

 the Grapevine Flea-beetle. 



Spider and Nest.— yl/ra. /. B. //unison.— The 

 spider you send is Acrosoma (Epeira) stellata 

 Hentz.,a species not uncommonly occurring in 

 the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and easily recognizable by Its abdomen being 

 armed at the sides and behind with a number of 

 pointed tubercles. The cocoon is in reality the 

 egg sac, a delicate web for the protection of the 

 numerous eggs within. ■ 



