54 



FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 



l-j,j„ 28 ] ^^ ^^' ^^"^ made few personal 



observations. But from facts 

 communicated by Mrs. H. 0. 

 Freeman, of South Pass, Illi- 

 nois, it is safe to add to its 

 natural enemies the Rust-red 

 Social Wasp {Polifites ruhi- 

 ginosus St. Farg.), which car- 

 ries the larva to its nest. 

 Figure 28, a shows this wasp, and h the manner in which her 

 spring nest is built. 



In July, Prof. C. E. Bessey, of Iowa Agricultural College, v/rote 

 me word that he found the Rose-breasted Grosbeck, ( Guiraca ludo- 

 viciand)^ devouring the potato beetles, and soon afterward, the same 

 bird was sent to me by E. H. King, of Steamboat Rock, Iowa, with a 

 similar statement. Other persons, especially in Iowa, observed the 

 same trait in this bird, which, though formerly quite rare, seems to 

 have suddenly multiplied and acquired this habit. Mr. Joel Barber, 

 of Lancaster, Wisconsin, informed me that this bird, though seldom 

 seen there before, was quite common in that vicinity about the first 

 of June, breeding there, and clearing potatoes of the nasty " bugs,'^ 

 which it seemed to prefer to all other food. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeck is a beautiful and conspicuous bird^ 

 the male having a heavy bill, with black head, black back varied 

 with brown, and black wings, the latter with three white bands. 

 Some of the outer tail-feathers and parts of the abdomen are white, 

 and the breast is rose-red. 



THE APPLE-TWIG BOWE^R — Amphicerus hlcaudahcs (Say). 



This insect (Rep. 4, p. 51) has at last been found on the Atlantic 

 sea-board, as 1 have received it from Mrs. Mary Treat, of Vineland, 

 N. J., who found it boring into pear twigs. It has also been found in 

 pear trees, received from Patapsco, Md., * but without any evidence 

 that it came from that place. Regarding its larval habit, Dr. Henry 

 Shinier has just informed me (March 24lh) that he recently found a 

 brief note of the breeding of this insect from grape-canes, the note 

 being attached to the insect bred. This substantiates the statement 

 in Packard's Guide, giving at least one known food-plant for the larva, 

 and proving the great similarity between it and that of the Red- 

 shouldered Sinoxylon, {Slnoxylon ho.sillare^ Say). The perfect bee- 

 tles, received in the spring of 1873, have been kept alive for over five 

 months, feeding on grape-vine, in a small phial. f 



* Country Gentleman, June 13th, ]872. 

 t Rural New Yorker, Oct. 12th, 1872. 



