80 



They are reported from three neighborhoods. — [J. Dexter Peirce, Larimore, N. Dak., 

 June 20, 1891. 



Reply. — * * * The iDsect is undoubtedly the Rocky Mountain Locust, Calop- 

 teniis spretus. Please send full particulars concerning the extent of country over 

 which the insect occurs at present, and as to its numbers. Strenuous efforts should 

 be made to stamp it out, and the best means to accomplish this are given in Bulletin 

 No. 25 of this division. * ' * [June 27, 1891.] 



Second letter. — The locust, Caloptenus spretus, has made its appearance upon a 

 strip of country about 10 or 15 miles wide, extending from Larimore, Grand Forks 

 County, to the boundary line, and, I hear, north of the line. They appear almost 

 entirely on unplowed stubble. Where they are thickest (judging by the pans) there 

 are about two bushels on each acre, ranging from one-third grown to little ones. They 

 do not cover all the country, but are in patches here and there. 



There has been a feeble eflort to iight them with pans containing tar or kerosene 

 and water. The latter works best. The State is about to give up the fight, as there 

 are no funds available. Funds and men are needed to fight them. People are very 

 apathetic, especially outside the district already invaded. *■ # * (^lan the Gov- 

 ernment do anything for us ? The States to the south are liable to be invaded if they 

 are not stopped here. There are no funds available here, and the farmers are too poor 

 to fight them themselves unless material is furnished them. — [J. Dexter Peirce, Lari- 

 more, N. Dak., July 3, 1891.] 



[Note. — Owing to the fact that no appropriation was available to the authorities 

 of the Department of Agriculture out of which materials for fighting the pest could 

 be supplied, Mr. Peirce's request could not be granted. It was clearly a case for the 

 State to take hold of, and two years ago Minnesota met similar conditions by a special 

 appropriation, and by hard work and the expenditure of $3,500 the invasion of this 

 insect was completely stamped out.] 



Habits of Mantispa. 



I send by to-day's mail a specimen for identification. I showed it to Prof. G. W. 

 Dunn, of Oakland, Gal., and to Dr. Lorenzo Yates and Prof. H. C. Ford, both of this 

 city, neither of whom could classify it. I shall feel greatly obliged if you will give 

 me its class and name. — [T. N. Snow, Santa Barbara, Cal., June 12, 1891. 



Reply. — * * * It is a species of the Neuroptei'ous genus Mautispa, a-remarkr 

 able genus of which only three or four species are known in this country. So far as I 

 know this one has not been specifically described. These insects are remarkable not 

 only for their curious figure, which somewhat resembles that of tbe " Rear-Horse" 

 or "Praying Mantis" of the order Orthoptera, but also from their habits, as their 

 larvie are parasitic in the egg-sacs of spiders. The eggs of the only species which 

 has been carefully studied (a European form) are rose-red in color and are fastened 

 upon stalks. They are laid in July and the larvte issue 21 days later. They pass the 

 winter without food and the following spring find their way into the nests of certain 

 spiders, where they feed upon the young. The Mantispa larva undergoes two changes 

 of form and in about a month changes to pupa, the adult issuing in time to lay the 

 eggs the following July. — [June 23, 1891.] 



A Correction. 



In Insect Life, vol. II, page 260, there is a note entitled " North European Dragon 

 Flies," dealing with Dr. Trybom's paper " Odonater insamlade under Svenskaexpe- 

 ditionen till Jenisej, 1876," and stating that these species were collected in "North 

 Sweden." But the Yenisey River ig in Siberia, and Siberia is not in Sweden nor in 

 J]urope at all. It is desirable that this curious mistake should be corrected. [E, 

 Bergrotb, Tammerfors, Finland.] 



