38 



FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



but on the contrary exhales a faint odor which is rather pleasant than oth- 

 erwise. I have already referred to the beauty of its coloring. As offsets^ 

 therefore, to its greediness and its thievery, we have, first the fact of its be- 

 ing agreeable to the nose, and secondly the fact of its being agreeable to the 

 eye. Are there not certain demons in the garb of angels, occasionally to 

 be met with among the human species, in favor of whom no stronger argu- 

 ments than the above can possibly be urged? 



No remedy other than hand picking, is yet known ; and I have had no 

 opportunity of trying the effects of the various applications such as salt^ 

 ashes, soot, etc. 



It is an interesting fact that in Europe, the cabbage grower is pestered 

 with a bug {Strachia ornata, Linri) which bears a striking general resem- 

 blance to our insect in color and ornamentation, and which, as I was assured 

 by M. B. Mulsant, of Lyons, Prance, has the light parts red in spring and 

 yellow in autumn. 



THE EASCAL LE AF-CEUMPLEE— P%c«Yrt * \_Acroha$is] nebulo, Walsh. 



(Lepidoptera, Phycidae.) 



[Fig. 18.] 



Such is the name given to an insect 

 which is quite common in the Western 

 States, and which also occurs in Ontario^ 

 but does not seem to be knoAvn in the 

 Eastern or extreme Southern States. It 

 was first described by Mr. Walsh, in the 

 Frairie Farmer for May, 1860, p. 308. 



It is one of those insects which is 

 hardly noticed while carrying on its most 

 destructive work; for it is most vora- 

 cious during the leafy months of May and 

 June, and is then more or less hidden by 

 the foliage of the tree which it so effect- 

 . ually heljis to denude. But the naked- 

 ness of winter, though it does not reveal 

 the surreptitious worm, laj'S bare and ren- 

 ders conspicuous its little house, and 



repeatedly given, I retain the technical name first given to this moth by Mr. Walsh, 

 properly referred to that genus as characterized by Westwood (Synopsis, p. 113). 



* For reasons : 



It was certainly properly 1 „ ^ - . ...... 



But genera have become so multiplied of late vears , that many of the older and earlier erected are fast 

 vanishing from our classification. None but the specialist can undertake to keep up with the endless- 

 new generic clmracters that are beii^g made, too otten, to mv mind, on the most trivial ground*; and 

 none but the specialists are particularly interested in these changes. For practical purposes, there- 

 fore, unless there are good and sulUcieiit reasons for making a change, it is best to adhere as much as 

 possible to those names by which notorious insects have become generally known. This course is al- 

 ways safe, if the more mo'dern genus to which the insect should be referred is in some way hinted at, 

 for 'the entomological student. Phycita nebulo, Walsh is Myelois indiriinella, Zeller, as I am informed 

 by the latter author who has had occasion to examine specimens which I forwarded to him. In real- 

 ity it belongs to the genus Acrobasis as characterized by the same author in the Isis of 1S4S, p. 006. 



