203 



Red Ants in California. 



In southern California wo were quite troubled by the small red ant, destroyinj^ 

 the bark of our younjj orauj^e trees, doinj;; their work just below the surface of the 

 ground. We tried various things ; among others, put liits of marrowbone near the 

 tree, and when the ant had settled upon the bone put the bone into hot water ; but 

 this makes a good deal of work in an orchard of any size. At last my hired man 

 lliought that ])erhap8 the Horned Toad, so plentiful in that locality, might be an 

 assistant in ridding us of the little pest; so he captured some of the little fellows 

 and put them close to the trees that were being eaten by the ant, and I am in- 

 formed that the pest has disappeared. My orchard is at North Cucamonga, Cal. — 

 [VV. D. Turner, Illinois, March 9, 1891. 



Gall on a common Weed. 



I inclose a field weed, which I wish you would have examined and report to me 

 what kind of worm or insect it is that occupies those balls; whether it is an insect 

 that damages corn, wheat, and other grain. Is this the kind of worm that damaged 

 corn to such an exteut here last siniug, which is commonly called Cut- worm ? — [T. O. 

 Storla, Aurora County, .S. Dak., January 29, 1891. 



Rkply. — The coumion field weed which you send has no popular name, but is known 

 to botanists as Lytjodesmia juncea. The round galls so common upon this weed are 

 made by a Cynipid gall fly known as Antistrophus l-pisum Walsh. As the plant has 

 no economic value, and as the insect is confined exclusively to this one species, its 

 presence in such numbers need not be a cause of anxiety to you. It has no connec- 

 tion whatever with the insects which damage corn, wheat, or other grain. The An- 

 tistrophus develops within the gall, and the adult flies issue to lay their eggs upon 

 the same weed and thus produce other similar galls. 



A Clerid Beetle found in Plush. 



We send inclosed two worms found in a piece of plush. Would you kindly tell 

 me what they are and whether they are liable to injure goods. The darker worm 

 was found in a substance resembling silk, and which adhered pretty firmly to the 

 plush. — [L. Sahm, jr., Indiana. 



Kkply. — One of the larvae forwarded had transformed to pupa in transit, but the 

 other is still active. It is the larva of a beetle of the family Cleridae and the genus 

 Necrobia. This family of beetles is, as a rule, carnivorous or predaceous in the early 

 stages. It is therefore probable that the larv* were attra<;ted to the goods by the 

 presence of other larvae, the latter probably of some of the common "Clothes Moths." 

 We hope to rear the imago, and should much like to have other specimens. If it 

 turns out, as seems probable, that this larvae will prey upon the various clothes 

 moths that so trouble the housekeeper it is well to know the fact, as possibly it may 

 be encouraged and utilized to advantage. On the other hand, one of the species of 

 the genus, namely, Xecrobia rnfipes, is known to be injurious to preserved meat and 

 has been found particularly bad in hams. An account of its injuries has been puli- 

 lished in our Sixth Report on the Insects of Missouri, p. 96. The species sent by 

 your correspondent is smaller, yet all the species of the genus in the larva state, so 

 far as known, feed on dead rather than live animal matter, and the presumption is 

 that in this case the two specimens had left some such matter and got on the plush 

 accidentally, or they may have fed on the exuviae of the clothes moths. The sub- 

 stance resembling silk may have been the cocoon of the clothes moth larvae, or else a 

 cocoon made by the Necrobia larva itself preparatory to pupation. — [September 16, 

 1891. J 



