THE A]\IERICAN EN'J'OMOLOGIST. 



Damage to Wheat : Worm boring^ in the 

 Stalk. — Inclosed I send you a niamiot or worm 

 new to me, and which I found in my wheat, and 

 still it may be an old enemy. Yon will find in 

 the inclosed vial samples of the stalk or joint 

 where the maggot was laid or the mature worm 

 '• has entered. It is the first joint below the head. 

 One of the worms is out in the vial, another is 

 tied in the stalk. I send also samples of the 

 shrunken berry or blaster. The head turns yel- 

 low, as if ripe. I have noticed in a number of 

 fields a great many such heads within a day or 

 two. A very serious damage is being done to 

 wheat, especially the later varieties, and where 

 the winter injured it so as to make it ripen late. 

 I think the Hessian liy is also working in some 

 places badly. I ha\'e not discovered much dam- 

 age in my Fultz wheat, which will be a few days 

 earlier than the Clawson.the inclosed being of this 

 variety. — A. R.Frost, Mill port, ChemnngCo.,N.Y. 



The worm so injurious to your wheat by boring 

 in the stalks, is what is popularly known as the 

 Stalk-borer, the larva of a night-fiying moth {Gor- 

 ty>ia nitela Guen., Fig. 107). It bores in the stems 



[Kig.'.lO' 



GoRTVNA NlTEI.A : 1, moth ; 2, larva (after Riley). 



of potato vines and a number of other plants, 

 sometimes doing considerable damage, and is 

 also known to infest in the same way corn, pie- 

 plants, several garden flowers, and other plants. 

 It has for some time been known to injure wheat, 

 and an e,\.cellent account of it was published by 

 Miss Emily A. Smith, in the 7th Illinois Entomo- 

 logical Report by Prof. Cyrus Thomas, p. 112. 



Larvae from Stomach of Blue Bird. — S. A. 



F., Normal, 111. — The Coleopterous larva you 

 send from the stomach of a Blue Bird is that of 

 Meracantha contractu (Beauv). We first raised it 

 in May, 1S66. The larva, which is not uncom- 

 mon in rotten logs in the western States, is easily 

 distinguished from other Tenebrionid larvx with 

 which we are familiar, by its deep brown color, 

 but particularly by the enlarged anal end ob- 

 liquely truncate above and deeply excavated. 

 The Lepidopterous larva, marked 12, and taken 

 in July, is a Callimorpha, and very probably the 

 common form hconlci. You will find some ac- 

 count of C.fulvicosta Clem, in our 3d Mo. Report, 

 p. 132. That marked /', and found in February, 

 is evidently of the same genus, but lacking the 

 median dorsal pale line. These larvse vary 

 considerably, and are much blacker before the 

 last molt than subsequently. They hibernate in 

 diflerent stages of growth, frequently under the 

 bark of trees. 



Butterfly Larva Injurious to Cotton Squares. 



— I send you to-day a specimen of Boll-worm, a 

 perfect stranger in these parts. I have detected 

 some three or four at work this spring on my 

 cotton. They penetrate the square exactly like 

 the common Boll-worm ; but, as you will see, it 

 is entirely different in appearance. If conve- 

 nient, let me hear from you in regard to the 

 worm. — B. F. Cooke, Marion, Ala. 



The slug-like larva which you observed pene- 

 trating the squares of cotton plants is that of a 

 small butterlly belonging to the genus Thecla. 

 The butterflies of this genus are verj* handsome, 

 often marked with blue on the upper side of the 

 grayish-black wings, and having a slender, 

 thread-like appendage on the hind wings. The 

 specimen is too much disfigured to warrant 

 specific determination, as the larvae of several 

 are very much alike. The species is probably 

 Tlicchi poeas Hiibn. It is not uncommonly met 

 with in cotton fields, and the larva is known to 

 feed on cotton leaves ; but the fact you commu- 

 nicate, that it also attacks the squares, is quite 

 new to us. This species is, however, not com- 

 mon enough to do any serious damage. The 

 specimen you send proved to be infested with 

 small ichneumon-flies, belonging to the genus 

 Microgastcr. We should be very much obliged 

 to you for any information regarding insects in- 

 juriously affecting the cotton plant, and for any 

 facts 3'ou may communicate regarding the de- 

 struction of the Cotton Worm. 



Cut-worms from stomach of Robin. — S. A. 



F., A'ormal, III. — The two vials marked J and / 

 have come to hand. The larva in the former, 

 taken from the stomach of a Robin at Galena. 

 111., March 31, 18S0, and that in the latter, also 

 from the stomach of a Robin at Normal, 111., 

 Feb. 27, 1880, are not Army Worms, though 

 having a ver)' close resemblance thereto. The 

 former belongs to some Ag)-otis, and probably the 

 same as the latter, which is the fourth larval stage 

 of an Agrotis and apparently Agrotis niessoria 

 Harr. There are quite a number of our ordinary 

 Cut-worms that have a general resemblance to the 

 Army Worm, even to the general markings of the 

 head, and it is this part that has to be more parti- 

 cularly studied in determining them. It is by a 

 critical study of the heads of these specimens that 

 we are able to say positively that they are not 

 Leucania. Agrotis cochratii Riley is synonj-mous 

 with A. messoria Harr., and an account of its 

 habits was published in our ist Missouri Report, 

 under the name of the Dark-sided Cut-worm. 



Large Phosphorescent Larva. — A gentleman 

 showed me to-day a beetle larva which had been 

 found by a friend in the mountains of Maryland. 

 It is three inches long, dark cream color, and 

 the head retractile into first segment. It is bril- 

 liantly phosphorescent between the segments on 

 the dorsal side, a bright row of spots on each 

 side corresponding with the stigmata, and on the 



