10 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



rather than of your "spirit rappers," for informa- 

 tion of the dead. Where it dwells is v''o/"/ia vreTov. 

 But, perhaps, one would rather know that it is 

 haustellate, and cannot destroy the leaves under 

 which it lives. It could not well be so foolish or 

 80 ungrateful to its protectors — not being human ; 

 — the Latins have coined into a proverb, at least 

 one of the proud privileges of humanity — est errare. 

 For how many years has not the Cicada " rapped" 

 in and around Rochester, before that place gave 

 birth to false sounds to which credulity eagerly 

 listened ? In summer time they had the true sounds 

 for nothing, yet many preferred the imitation. 



The French manufacturer turns the yellow 

 strands of silk into profit to himself and dress for 

 others. The Mexican rears the cochineal and the 

 East Indian the "crops" of lac. These, partly at least, 

 comprehend the gifts of God. We, in the U. States, 

 decry our insects and stigmatize them as " bugs," 

 and they are all, more or less, objects of fear and 

 aversion. We should remember the origin of the 

 word " bug," which is Celtic : — '• Tush, fright boys 

 <fith bugs." — (" Taming of the Shrew," Act 1) — 

 and that it signifies a "ghost." — (Griffith's "Lift 

 for the Lazy.") Did we generally know this the 

 vulgarism would perhaps become obsolete and we 

 should call our insects by their right (?) names. 

 Were Providence to answer the prayers of some of 

 us, our insects would appear no more. Can one con- 

 ceive a Spring without a bee, a Summer without a 

 butterfly, the " Dog-days" without a " locust"? Com- 

 merce would cry after its lost profits; Fashion would 

 bewail her want of fresh trimmings; the Poet would 

 mourn his lost friends. Nay, were this to happen, 

 we should even burn our musquito bars in one 

 great sacrificial pyre and implore the gods for the 

 favor of being bitten. 



THE JOINT WOEM. 



We copy the following paragraphs from the Ca- 

 uda Farmer of October, 18(j.j : 

 "A correspondent in Cobourg is desirous of some infor- 

 i ation respecting un insect wliicli baa proved rather in- 

 t rious to bis early sown wheat, particularly that on dry 

 \ iolla; he has sent us twosmall sections of wheat-straw. 

 i . which are imbedded the pupae of the insect that lias 

 ttnmitted the depredations, and also some similar pup® 

 o' last year's production, from which one or two tiny 

 l»ktle flies have made their escape by eating a hole in the 

 side. Out of these scanty materials it is, of course, im- 

 possible to determine with any certainty to what genus 

 or species the insect enemy belongs: it is probable, how- 

 ever, from its generally attacking the second joint of the 

 •traw, that it is a species of Eureptoma, [Eurytoma] a 

 small four-winged insect that has occasionally proved 

 Tery injurious to the straw crop in the United States. In 

 cases where much damage has been inllicted upon a crop, 

 U3 the attack is made in the second joint of the straw, 

 tnd 60 near the base of the plant, the only mode of pre- 

 venting a recurrence of the injury is to burn the stubble 

 toutaiuing the insectj for, of course, the greater part of 



the diseased portions will be left in the stubble when the 

 grain is reaped. 



" The tiny little flies which had eaten their way out of 

 the sides of the pupje of this insect are ichneumons or 

 parasites, whose larva had preyed upon the grubs of the 

 injurious fly. They are less than the twentieth part of 

 an inch in length.of a dark metallic green color, and fur- 

 nished with four transparent wings. These little flies 

 and their congeners, which belong to one of the most ex- 

 tensive groups of insects, are of vast importance in the 

 economy of nature, being designed by Providence for the 

 prevention of too great an increase in the various species 

 of insects, especially those that are of an injurious cha- 

 racter; a superabundance of any peculiar kind being 

 almost invariably attended with an increased proportion 

 of its parasitic enemies." 



The above throws some considerable light upon 

 a subject of great practical importance to the Ag- 

 riculturist, which has never yet been fully eluci- 

 dated. For many years back it has been known 

 that whole fields of wheat, rye, and barley have 

 been destroyed in the States bordering on the At- 

 lantic by a minute insect popularly called the " Joint 

 Worm." All accounts agree in stating that this so- 

 called "worm" is found in considerable numbers 

 imbedded in a small, gall-like swelling in or imme- 

 diately above the second joint of the straw, or at all 

 events some joint not far from the ground ; and 

 that, in consequence of its operations, the portion 

 of straw above the gall-like swelling withers and 

 comes to nothing. This "worm" of course must, 

 in all probability, be the larva of some insect ; but 

 to what Species, to what Genus, and even to what 

 Family and Order it belongs, is at present wrapt in 

 obscurity. 



Both Dr. Fitch and Dr. Harris were originally 

 of opinion that the Joint- Worm was the larva of a 

 Cecidomyia or Gall-gnat, the same genus of insects 

 to which appertain the common Hessian Fly and 

 the Wheat-midge. Subsequently, however, be- 

 cause from a large quantity of the diseased straw 

 they never bred anything but Chains flies, they 

 both of them came to the conclusion that it must 

 be the Chalcis flies that were the causes of the dis- 

 ease. And yet it is notorious that the Cliakis fa- 

 mily — to which appertains the genus Euri/toma 

 mentioned in the extract from the Canada Farmer 

 — are generally parasitic upon other insects; and 

 that, although hundreds of species of them are 

 known to entomologists, in no one instance has it 

 yet been satisfactorily proved, that any one of them 

 is other than parasitic in its habits. 



We have referred this subject to Mr. Benj. D. 

 Walsh, of Rock Island, Illinois, who has paid spe- 

 cial attention to the Natural History of Galls,* and 

 has published Papers iu our Proceedings on the 



*It may be incidentally remarked here, that all unna- 

 tural or diseased growths upon plants, no matter what 

 their shape or color, which are caused by insects, are 

 technically termed "Galls" by Naturalists. 



