286 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



stomach of the king-bird, Tyrannus caro- 

 linensis, bees, a cherry-stone, a hairy cater- 

 pillar and a red locust. 



On Friday afternoon, 27th .August, at 

 4.15 p. m., Mr. E. Burgess gave a des- 

 cription, with illustrations on the black- 

 board, of the structure of the mouth or- 

 gans of Lepidoptera. Prof. Cook thought 

 the proboscis might be unrolled by hydro- 

 static pressure, as the mouth organs of the 

 bee are distended. Mr. Riley said that in 

 Trypeta solidagiiiis the mouth parts are 

 distended by tlie injection of a liquid 

 when the fly is issuing from its gall. I_)r. 

 Hagen said that the proboscis of L'ltiono- 

 has contains very strong muscles. 



Dr. Hagen read a paper on tlie anatomy 

 of Prodcxus decipiens. 



Prof. Fernald read a pa[)er on I'lioxop- 

 tcris angulifasciana. 



Mr. O. S. Wescott described a moth trap 

 which he had constructed. He described 

 also the manner in which a geometrical 

 spider measures off the interval between 

 the successive turns of the spiral in her 

 web, by reaching out her leg at every knot, 

 to graduate the distantx' of one thread 

 from another. 



Dr. Hoy descriljcd a trap construe ted 

 by him, for the cajjture of insects. Mr. 

 Mann remarked that such a trap hatl been 

 described as Mr. (Hover's invention many 

 years ago. 



Mr. Grote said that he had found Dory- 

 phora decemlineata feeding on /?(7////'(? iiiitea. 



The meeting was then adjourned until 



next year 



^ — ^ 



Silk Culture J'UR PR(jFrr. — In the 

 first issue of the Daily Evening Transcript, 

 which bears date Boston, July 24, 1830, 

 occurs the following advertisement : 

 FIVE THOUSAND SILK WORMS. 



Silk Cocoons, Silk worms' eggs, etc., ma}' be 

 seen at No. 5 Tremont House. Also the process 

 of the separation of tlie sill< from the balls by 

 reeling, and much curious and useful information 

 obtained relative to the hatching and rearing of 

 silk worms and production of raw silk. 



Admittance, 12 'j cents. Children half price. 

 Season Tickets, 50 cents. 



It is to be hoped that the Bostonian of 



fifty years ago availed himself of such an 



opi)ortunity, and profited thereby. — C.R.D. 



ON A NEW PTRALID INFESTING THE SEED 

 PODS OF THE TRUMPET VINE. 



CLVUONdriEKi IN rECtiM.l , NOV. GKN., N. SI'. 

 BV THE EDITOR. 



In opening the ripening pods of the 

 Trumijct vine {Teconui radicans) during 

 autumn many of them in the Southwest 

 will ])e found to rei|uire considerable force 

 to separate the two halves, owing to the' 

 fact that they are bound together with a 

 silken web. Upon separating the parts, 

 close examination will generally reveal 

 from one to a dozen dull, yellowish-white 

 worms with more dusky brownish head and 

 neck, and with the other normal character- 

 istics of the larva; belonging to the family, 

 the smaller and larger larva; closely re- 

 sembling each other. These worms are 

 generally enclosed in tough flattened cases 

 among the peculiar, winged, flattened, 

 brown seeds, which are then plentifully in- 

 termixed with dry, coarse, blackish, excre- 

 mentitious grains. The silken case thus 

 inhabited by the larva is opened at both 

 ends, and generally has attached to it ex- 

 ternally a mass of seeds from which the 

 germ and cotylidons have been eaten out 

 froin one side. Before enclosing them- 

 selves for pupation it is the invariable 

 habit of llic larviv to secure the two halves 

 of the pod by a web as above described, to 

 prevent the natural splitting and opening 

 upon rijiening. By the forepart of Nov- 

 ember the larva, ceases to feed and re- 



» 



mains dormant within its flattened cocoon 

 (Fig. 152, d attached to the inner wall of 

 the pod until late in the following spring. 

 .\bout the middle of April the worm 

 awakens and gnaws in the side of the pod 

 a circular hole, which it fills up with silk 

 and excrement. It then retires and trans- 

 forms to a smooth, golden-brown pupa 

 (Fig. 152, c}. This pupa when about to 

 give forth the moth does not partially 

 emerge, as is so often the case with endo- . 

 phytous I.epidopterous larva;, but the moth 

 itself jiushes, uninjured, through the lightly 

 closed ojiening [ircpared while in its larval 

 state. The moth issues at irregular inter- 

 vals through most of the summer months. . 

 It seems to be strictly nocturnal and is not 



