OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 51 



ages. But where it is desired to disseminate the parasites, they may 

 be bred by inclosing large numbers of Carpooapsa cocoons in some 

 tight vessel. The apple crop was abundant, and the Codling-moth 

 comparatively harmless in most parts of the country (he past year, 

 though whether or not this abundance was in any way connected with 

 the work of these parasites, it is useless to speculate. 



The Pimplas were, most of them, bred from cocoons taken from 

 the lathed bandages, and the spaces between the pieces of lath may 

 have more easily permitted the access of the Ichneumon-lly than was 

 the case with some of the other bandages. 



Besides these parasites, and enemies previously alluded to, 1 found 

 that ants, cockroaches, and the larvae of certain predaeeous beetles,* 

 played by no means an unimportant part in destrojing the apple 

 worms.f 



FALSE DOCTRINES. 



An apparently plausible method of eradication has been proposed 

 by Dr. J. S. Parker, of Ithaca, N. Y. In an article in the Maine Far- 



*The larva of some species of Trogosita, and closely resembling that from \yhich I have bred 

 Trogosita nana Melsh., was frequently found at this work. 



t While this is going through the printer's hands, I notice that Dr. LeB.iron has made similar and 

 corroborative observations regarding a Trogosita larva {Prairie Farmer, April 12, 1S7.J) . He also pub- 

 lishes the following communication from Mr. G. W. Shaw, of Decatur coimty, Iowa: 



In the S))ring of 1870, I planted among my currants the Early Goodrich potatoes. Currants were 

 six by six feet apiirt. AVhen the jtotatoes were fairly ii)3, the Colorado potato beetle commenced upon 

 them. I tried luui(l-|iiikiug, and for the liv.-.t time became acquainted wilh the .s<ildier-bug, seeing him 

 spear the youii!;' jHitato lieetles. The next siiiiiin', 1871, che currant liushr.s were alive with the cun-ant 

 worm. lt.seenn(l alinuf-t useless to try and pick them olf . 1 eoniimiiced, luiwever, and the second 

 day was rewarded by seeing the soldier-bug spearing them, and in a few days not a currant worm was 

 to "be seen. This season the codling moth, or apple worm as it is called, was very bad in my orchard; 

 nearly every apple had a worm in it. 1 noticed very many of the soldier-bugs on the trees. They 

 would pass up and down the branches, and when they came to an ai)ple would go down to the blos- 

 som end and stick their bill into the calyx of tlie apple, and remain as long as tive minutes, as I then 

 thought, sucking the juice out of the apple. In June, 1872, I saw a soldier-Jiug sucking an Early Har- 

 vest ai>ple, and watched him for some minutes. When he was through, he lolded his bill under his 

 body and moved to another ai)ple, and what was my surprise to see the skin of an apple worm on the 

 bloss<mi end of the apjde that he had just left. It "seemed very strange to me that 1 had spent ten or 

 twelve years in the orchards and had never known before what the soldier-bug was after. Frequently 

 after that 1 saw the beetle take the worms out. At other times, alter cutting the apple open, the worm 

 would be found dead. The part of the orchard near the currant plantation was much less aflected by 

 the codling moth than that farther oil'. 



This is certainly a very interesting observation, but will need corroboration before being 

 accepted. Mr. Shaw is evidently not much of an entomologist, else he would not use the term beetle 

 in referring to a Heteropteron; and thoagh this is nothing to be ashamed of, it renders us less ready to 

 receive his conclusions as valid when we reflect on the following facts: 1. The beak of the Spined 

 Soldier-bug (Ith Rep., Fig. 9) is, at the most, not more than 1-5 inch long (I speak from memory) and 

 I have never seen it inserted above the terminal joint. 2. It would, therefore, be of little service, ex- 

 cept when the fruit is very small . 3. Until the atopic- worm is nearly grown and the fruit has acquired 

 some size, there is seldom any outward sign of the work of the worm, which enters by a very minute 

 hole, and, for the most part, bores in the heart, around the core. 4. It could not be ])ulled out of such 

 Iruit by a haustellate bug, which can only penetrate and pierce, and not cut. 5. There are many other 

 Half-wing bugs which few biit the entomologist could distinguish from the Spined species in question, 

 and which are vegetarian in habit, but occasionally suck the juices of soft-bodied larva;. G. There is 

 another and smaller worm, namely, the larva of what Mr. Walsh called the Plum Moth {Scmasia pruni- 

 vora Walsh), wliich is quite common on haws and apples. It does not penetrate deeply into the apple, 

 but remains around the calyx, and generally spins up there; and it so closely resembles the young 

 apple- worm that the two might easily be confounded. 



While, therefore, I do not doul>t but that Anna spinosa would stab an apple worm if it got a 

 «hance, it will require better proof tliau we yet have to make me believe that it pulls this worm out of 

 its hidden abode. 



