THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



2S.^ 



had been slightly wetted with the extract, and in 

 two minutes from the time the extract was thrown 

 on the plants this Heliothis fell to theground, 

 and after convulsions, rolling, crawling, twist- 

 ing, which lasted an hour and a quarter, it died. 

 In four minutes about half of tlie .-Metia; had 

 fallen to the ground and were in convulsions, 

 the younger worms falling first. At the end of 

 one hour there were but four larvx of Aletia on 

 the cotton that had been reached by the extract, 

 and these were evidently much affected by it, so 

 that I think they will die. I regret that the 

 number of boll worms is so small since these 

 excessive rains and cold weather that I experi- 

 ment under difficulties. Some chrj-salides of 

 Aletia were on the cotton to which I applied the 

 diluted extract in this experiment ; I am keeping 

 them carefully to see if they retain vitality. — R. 

 W. Jones, Oxford, Miss. 



Boll Worm devouring Cotton Worm. — I 



went to Holly Springs to-day, to visit a field near 

 that place, in company with Judge Lawrence 

 Johnson, in which the cotton had been fearfully 

 " ragged" by Aletia, and in which great damage 

 has been done by Heliothis. The upper leaves 

 of the plants, in a large part of the field, have 

 been consumed, excepting the " ribs," and there 

 are thousands of chrysalides. The bolls are get- 

 ting old and tough now, and the boll worms have 

 turned to eating the chrysalides of Aletia. I dis- 

 covered this soon after entering the field, and 

 called Judge Johnson's attention to it ; we both 

 saw the Heliothis eating the chrysalides of Aletia. 

 Another fact : we saw Aletia eating young bolls 

 and their contents in places where the leaves had 

 been consumed. 



I have noticed, in many instances, that when 

 the Boll Worm eats the contents of a boll, and 

 the excrement is exposed on the boll to the rain 

 for some time, that it is relieved of certain color- 

 ing matter, and seems to be unchanged cellu- 

 lose, having the fibrous structure of cotton when 

 the ball opens naturally. This shows that the 

 food of Heliothis, that which nourishes it, is the 

 juices and seeds of the young boll. I do not 

 know that this last fact is of any special practical 

 value, but it seems to me to be exceptional. 

 — R. W. .Jones, Oxford, Miss., Sept., 24, I880. 



Insect Enemies of Growing Rice. — I inclose 

 a letter from Mr. John Screven, Savannah, Ga., 

 relative to the depredations committed on grow- 

 ing rice by two larvsc (one of them evidently of a 

 Scarabxid). He has sent me specimens of each 

 kind of larva, which I forward to you to-day by 

 Adams Express. 



Will you have the kindness to enter into cor- 

 respondence with Mr. Screven, and give him such 

 instructions as will enable him to collect speci- 

 mens of the perfect insects, and to furnish you 

 with such additional points in the history of these 

 destructive pests as may be useful for publica- 

 tion. — J. L. LeConte, Sept. 15, i88o. 



[We shall publish in our next number, the 

 interesting communication which Dr. Le Conte 

 so obligingly incloses, and we quote further from 

 Mr. Screven's letter ;] 



I also send specimens of what planters call 

 the "Grub." It infests the rice fields, especi- 

 ally in mold lands, beginning its work in 

 June, before the harvest flow is put on Ihc fields. 

 Inundation is the only remedy for them, and is 

 effective, as it is peculiarly a dry-land worm. 

 Like the "Maggot," it attacks the roots of the 

 rice, and is very destructive in its ravages, 



" The " Maggot " is a water, and the " Grub " 

 is a dry-land insect. Drying the fields for a few 

 days is the remedy for the one, and inundating 

 them is the remedy for the other. In the course 

 of a crop, lasting in its cultivation, say 160 d.-iys, 

 the fields are dry during 80, and inundated dur- 

 ing 80 days. They are again dry from September 

 to March. One would imagine that either remedy 

 would suffice in its respective application to ex- 

 tirpate both " Grub " and " Maggot," but still they 

 come from year to year, born, as it were, out of 

 nothing ! 



I would be glad to have the opportunity and 

 the privilege of sending you other specimens of 

 the insect enemies of the rice plant — as, for ex- 

 ample, the "Caterpillar" and " Water Weevil." 

 The latter is so called because it resembles 

 closely, in form and size, the ordinary grain 

 weevil. It is a water insect, feeding on the tender 

 formation between the frame-work on the leaves 

 of the young plant when it is in the " Stretch 

 Flow," giving a pale, sickly hue to the field, and 

 sometimes destroying the plant by the extirpation 

 of its breathing apparatus. The " Water Weevil" 

 makes its advent in April, and disappears in May. 



[The " Grub " is evidently the larva of a beetle 

 belonging to the familj' Scarahaidic, and, appar- 

 ently, to the genus Ligyrus. The larvae in this 

 genus are known to develop very rapidly, and 

 one species (Z. riigiceps Lee), is very common in 

 the South, and destructive, in the beetle state, 

 to the roots of sugar-cane and corn (see May No. 

 of this magazine, p. 130). The " Maggot " is un- 

 like anything we have in our cabinet. It is ap- 

 parently Coleopterous, but bears no resemblance 

 to Donacia larvae, which occur under water, or 

 to the Sitophihis oryztc, which infests the rice grain. 

 It resembles most those of certain small Longi- 

 corns belonging to the genus Oberia. We should 

 be pleased to have you send us, if possible, the 

 other stages of these insects. If allowed to attain 

 their full growth, and watch be kept upon them, 

 )'ou will observe into what form of winged insect 

 they change. The connection of the "Maggot" 

 with putrescence is worthy of investigation, for 

 an examination of the specimens sent does not 

 indicate that the insect is necessarily connected 

 with the putrescence. In order to combat the 

 evil, one of the most important points to learn 

 is, what becomes of the insects after the crop is 

 gathered ; and in order to determine this it is 

 necessary to watch them through their trans- 

 formations.] 



