252 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



them for market is as follows: After catcliiiig tlicm by shaking" them off 

 from trees into sheets, they are plunged into vinegar diluted with water 

 or exposed in sieves to the vapor of boiling vinegar to deprive them of 

 life ; then they are dried in heated rooms or in the sun. In some local- 

 ities the collectors put the beetles, when first caught, into bags, where 

 they are left until they die ; they are then dried in the sun. 



Our native blister beetles might be i)repared in tlie same manner. 

 The fact remains, however, that they are now of no commercial impor- 

 tance. It is difficult to decide whether the fault lies in the conservatism 

 of the apothecaries, who will purchase only the Spanish-fly because it 

 has been used for centuries, or in the people, by neglecting to bring them 

 into market. 



*The green clover-worm {Platyliifpena scahra, Fair.). — The adult 

 form of this larva has long been kuo>vn as common in almost every 

 part of the United States. In spite of the dissimilarity in form and 

 color between it and the cotton- worm moth (the only resemblance being 

 in size), it was perhaps more frequently sent during the winter months 

 to the department as the true Aletia than any other moth; by which 

 two facts are learned: that it is common South, and that the insect 

 customarily hibernates as a moth. During the winter of 1878-'79 it 

 was very abundant in the District of Columbia, flying on warm, sun- 

 shiny days. 



During the summer there were found abundantly upon clover rather 

 slender green worms, which proved to be the larva of this species. They 

 were so common that in many places one could hardly make a swing of 

 the beating net through the grass without capturing one or more of them. 

 The full-grown larva was 16""° (f inch) in length. When ready to trans- 

 form, it webs together several leaves and changes to a brown pupa. 

 The moths of the first brood issued about the middle of June, and the 

 full-grown larvae of another brood were found August 15. There are, 

 then, certainly two, and perhaps three, broods in a geason. The larva 

 is very similar to that of a clover-leaf roller, Tortrix incertana, Clem., so 

 much so, that it is very difficult to distinguish them; it is very quick and 

 jerky in its motions. We submit the following technical descriptions of 

 the larva and pupa : 



Platyhypena scabra, Fabr. 



Larva.— Length when fall grown 16""". Color, dark yellow-green, with a narrow 

 subdorsal and. lateral whitish line. Head, prothoracic and anal plates of the same 

 color as the body, but glassy. Whole body with sparse dark hairs, longer on anal 

 plate. Spiracles dark-brown ; tips of prologs and mouth parts brown. Sides sub- 

 parallel; greatest width 2.6™". 



Pupa.— Rather stout, dark mahogany -brown. Wing sheaths and crural sheatha 

 closely soldered; the former obtusely rounded and extending to the end of the fifth 

 abdominal segment. Stigmatal tubercles quite prominent. Dorsum of thorax and 

 wing sheaths coarsely shagreened. Dorsum of abdominal segments rather sparsely 

 putictulate, the posterior border of each segment being smooth and shining. The 

 anal segment at its end is furnished with several (a variable number) minute recurved 

 hook-like spines. From the apex of the Ina.l to the end of the fourth abdominal seg- 

 ment the dorsum is elevated into a slight ridge, more marked upon the abdominal seg- 

 ments than upon the thorax. 



The greater locust leaf gelechia {Gelechia pseudacadella, 

 Cham.)— This insect has been very common on the locusts in the vicin- 

 ity of AVashington during the past season, which leads us to make a 



*EyUaea seahra Fabr., Cravihug cramalus Haw., Hypena oiesalis Steph., Hypena erect 

 alis Guen, female, Hypena scahraUn Guen, male (see Lintner in Canadian Entomol- 

 ogist, V, 81). H. erecialis var. mhrufelis Grote, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. iv, p. 102. (Grote a . 

 List of the Noctuidae migprints this last volume as :{.) 



