253 



Balaninus nasicus in granulated Sugar. 



I mail you a box of worms seut to us from Biicyrius, Ohio. They were takeu from 

 a barrel of granulated sugar that was lined with several layers of tissue paper. Can 

 you tell us anything about them and how they probablj' came to be there ? I imag- 

 ine they came from the staves of the barrel, although that is hardly probable, as the 

 wood is kilu-dried before being used for cooperage.— [F. N. Barrett, 143 Chambers 

 Street, New York, November 26, 1H88. 



Keply. — I have your letter of the 2(ith instant and the accompanying box ot gran- 

 ulated sugar containing worms from Bucyrus, Ohio. These worms are not sugar- 

 eaters, aud their presence in the barrel described was accidental. They are the larvte 

 of the common Chestnut Weevil (Balaninus nasicus), and it is their habit to emerge 

 from chestnuts and enter the ground to pupate. Chestnuts must have beeu stored or 

 temporarily placed near this barrel of sugar (probably over it), and the grubs, in 

 search of earth, made their way into it. They did not come from the wood, as you 

 suggest. — [November 30, 1888.] 



On Thalessa aud Tremex — A Correction. 



I continue to receive with much pleasure the successive numbers of Insect Life, 

 and in No. 6, to hand a few days ago, was specially interested in your admirable arti- 

 cle on the habits of Thalessa and Tremex, and the beautiful illustrations which accom- 

 panied it. I must plead guilty to formerly having imbibed too trustfully the state- 

 ments of well-known entomologists as to the oviposition of Thalessa, aud to have thus 

 been led to insert in my paper published in the Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XIV, p. 

 b'3, the statement that the egg was deposited in the larva. This was especially un- 

 fortunate, as the rest of the article was the result of personal observations. There 

 appears, however, to be a clerical error in your paper on page 172, where I am coupled 

 with Mr. Clarkson as an advocate of the larvte being liguivorous. It is evident that 

 Mr. Gade was intended for mention. 



The description of Htteropehna datance enables me to i)lace a name upon a species 

 which has been in ray cabinet for several years as sp. nov. ? I have two specimens, 

 both collected here. — [W. H. Harrington, Post-Office Department, Ottawa, Canada, 

 January 7, 1889. 



Sap-Beetles in injured Figs. 



I send you by mail figs from the same tree showing several stages of injury from 

 the insects. The figs are from a tree about four years old, growing in a sandy-loam soil 

 made rich with stable manure and cotton seed. The piece of ground upon which 

 stand the trees is about 65 by 75 feet and bordered on north and northeast by brick 

 wall, east by brick house, and south and west by paling fence. The trees were some- 

 what severely bitten by cold last winter, but have borne a very heavy crop of fruit 

 this summer. The brown insect begins to infest the fruit by entering the end further- 

 most from the limb as soon as the fig begins to mature and get ripe. You notice 

 there are two kinds of the insect — one a brown, size of a weevil; the other almost 

 microscopic, dove-colored. They destroy my entire crop of figs. What are they, and 

 is there any remedy against their ravages ? I have other kinds of figs, but they are not 

 so bad on them.— [J. C. Richardson, Greenville, Ala., September, 1886. 



Reply. — * * " The numerous small insects which are found swarming in the 

 figs sent by you represent several species of the Coleoterous family {Xitidulidfe), popu- - 

 larly known as Sap-beetles. The largest aud most abundant species among them is 

 Carpo2)hihis mutilatus. Three other species, viz, Colastus niger, Colastus truncatus, and 

 Carpophihis marfiinatus, were much less frequent. The small white larvae of these 

 beetles work also upon the figs. These Sap-beetles can not be considered as injurious, 

 since they are not capable of puncturing the rind of their own accord, and they only 

 enter such fruits as have been previously injured by some other insect. They feed 

 upon the decaying pulp. Within the limits of the cotton belt the notorious Cotton- 



