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Sciapterou robiniae in Cottonwood in Washingtou Territory. 



By to-day's mail \vv, send yon wliat appears to be tlie borer that destroys the Cot- 

 tonwood and Balm trees of the West. While holding the creature ou the blade of a 

 saw, the pretty winged bug that yon will find in the box shed off the dry skin, 

 which you will also find with it. I took the creature directly from a hole in a Cot- 

 tonwood tree which had apparently been bored by a borer. Please give us all the 

 information about it that you can, its habits and the way to kill it, for publication in 

 our paper. — [Legh E. Freeman, editor Washingtou Farmer, North Yakima, Wash. Ty., 

 March 10, 18-9. 



Keply. — Your letter of the 10th with specimen just received. The insecc which 

 you send is one of the Western Clear-winged Moths and is known as Sciapterou 

 rob'niia',. It breeds in Locust and White Poplar in Nevada and has been found in 

 Cottonwood in California. It is a near relative to the common Peash-treo Borer of 

 the East and belongs to a group of moths the larvie of which all bore into the stems 

 of trees and plants. It is probably neither sufficiently abundant nor destructive Avith 

 you to occasion a demand for a remedy. — [May 18, 18s9.] 



A Fodder Worm in the South. 



Mr. W. H. Peel, of this place, has called my attention to a worm which during the 

 winter for three years has infested the stacks of dry corn blades, here universally 

 called "fodder" and the main representative of hay in this country. The grown 

 worm (I have seen but one) is over an inch long, a uniform brown, without hair, 

 almost translucent, has full complement of feet for crawling rapidly, something like 

 the Tortricid;e, but does not roll the dry leaves nor make a web till the chrysalid 

 condition. Very abundant it seems and destructive — a now pest to the farmers of 

 this region; yet as the fly has been coming out some two weeks I could get only a 

 few, which are sent in a small box to-day. They come to light, but with others, and I 

 refrain from catching them for fear of getting them mixed. According to Mr. Peel 

 the worms are active for mouths, webbing up about the 1st of March and coming out 

 the last of the same mouth, three to four weeks. — [Lawrence C. .Johnson, Waterford, 

 Miss., May 4,.18S9. 



Keply. — Your letter of the 4Mi instant, inclosing specimens of an insect which at- 

 tacks the stalks of dry corn, from the place of Mr. W. H. Peel, of Waterford, Miss., 

 has been received. The specimens are very Interesting, and belong to a species of 

 Pyralid known as Helia amula. The larva of this species has previously been found 

 feeding upon the dry leaves of various plants in the woods, and also upon a number 

 of fodder plants during the winter. The remedy will depeiul altogether upon the 

 jtarticular method in which the fodder corn is stored. Will you kindly request Mr. 

 Peel to write us a full account of the way in which this insect works, and the manner 

 in which he stores his fodder during the winter, and we will then advise him as to 

 remedies. If he can send other specimens wc shall be glad to get them. — [May 15, 

 18rt9.] 



Secoxd letter. — Your favor of the l.'jth instant received. Much obliged for your 

 prompt information .about Helia a'.mula. I found some dry clover hay once in i)rocess 

 of destruction by a worm similar to this one, but on that occasion failed to get a liy, 

 and had no one to watch them. I can tell you now all that is known of this S2)eci- 

 men in Mississippi. As I wrote before, no one seems ever to have noticed its ravages 

 until three years ago. The fodder in question consists of the blades stripped from 

 standing corn (maize) as the fashion is at the South, and dried in the field in the 

 sun. When dry or nearly so it is taken up and tied by a withe of its own leaves into 

 bundles of almnt two pounds' weight. These when considered cured are carted up 

 to ])oints selected and stacked, with the butts within next the stack-pole, the ends 

 without. A little of the euds take the weather as in any fodder that is stacked, and 

 becomes worthless. This item is mentioned because it is the only part of the bundle I 



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