THE 



Pra^tkal (gttt^m^lcrflfei 



A MONTHLY BULLETIN, 



Published by the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, for gratuitous distribution 

 among Farmers and Agriculturists. 



Vol. I. 



JANUAKY 29, 1866. 



No. 4. 



®he f ractifitl (BntDmologi.it. 



JlSr Published at the Hall of the Society, Ko. 618 Soulh 

 Thirteenth Street, where all (except Western) communi- 

 cations should be addressed. 



J^' Those wishing to receive the Bulletin regularly, 

 should send, with their names and address, 12 cents to 

 prepay the postage for one year. All subscriptions must 

 date from the commencement of the volume. 



E. T. CRESSOX, 1 Publication Oomhittee 



AUG. R. GROTE. } and 



J. W. McAllister, J Editors. 



BE-NJ. D. WALSH, Bock Island, Illinois, 



Associate Editor. 



PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 29, 1866. 



J^~ We publish in this number a lengthy, but valua- 

 ble, article on " Borers," by Mr. Walsh, of Illinois, which 

 we hope will be carefully read by all who subscribe to 

 this little Paper. Being desirous of printing the whole 

 of the article in this number, our answers to correspond- 

 ents and several short communications have been crowded 

 out, and will be given in our next number. Since our 

 la-at issue we have received much to encourage us in the 

 publication of the Bulletin, and although advertisements 

 continue to come in slowly, we have cause to believe that 

 they will steadily increase, and finally produce a suflTi- 

 cient income to enable us to furnish the Bulletin to sub- 

 scribers upon the same terms as we do no%v. In the 

 meantime we respectfully ask those who consider the 

 Practical Entomologist worthy of support, to send us 

 contributions in money for that purpose. The increase 

 in the circulation of the Bulletin averages 30 daily, or 

 about 900 monthly. Copies are sent to every State in 

 the Union, with the exception of some of the Southern 

 States, where its publication is not known; and we think 

 the medium thus offered to advertisers doing business 

 with Farmers and Agriculturists is certainly very good; 

 we hope, therefore, that they will patronize our adver- 

 tising columns, and we will engage to do our best to give 

 satisfaction both as to terms and display. We tender our 

 sincere thanks to the Agricultural and other journals in 

 different parts of the United States, for the good words 

 published by ihcm in behalf of this little paper, and 

 which greatly encourages its publication. 



BY EENJ. D. WALSH, H. A. 



We continually see men writing and talking abont 

 "the Borer," and expounding at great length some pet 

 scheme that they have devised for getting rid of "the 

 Borer!" They might just as well publish prolix disser- 

 tations about the habits and the requirements of " Stock," 

 and recommend at great length some particular method 

 of feeding "Stock." Just as there are a great many kinds 

 of "Stock" kept by a farmer — for example, Horses, 

 Horned Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, <tc. — and just as a Cow will 

 feed upon hay while a Hog will starve on it, and contra- 

 riwise a Hog will feed upon butcher's offal which a Cow 

 will starve on; so there are a great many different kinds 

 of " Borers," each confined to one or more particular kinds 

 of tree, and each requiring to be attacked in a particular 

 manner, in order to prevent his working mischief. A re- 

 medy that is effectual against one kind of Borer will often, 

 as I know from personal experience, be perfectly useless 

 against another kind. For in Natural History, however 

 it may be in Cookery, what is sauce for goose is not always 

 sauce for gander. 



The number of the different species of "Borers," found 

 within the limits of the United States, amounts to many 

 hundreds ; but as only a few of these are brought more 

 immediately into contact with the Farmer, from their 

 attacking such trees and shrubs, as are peculiarly useful 

 to hull either for their shade or their timber, or such as 

 are cultivated for their fruit, I merely propose in the fol- 

 lowing paragraphs to give a brief account of each of tJiese 

 few. At the same time, the best method of counterworking 

 each species will be explained, so far as known to me; 

 and even when no certain and effectual remedy can be 

 suggested, a knowledge of the habits of the insect will 

 often lead the intelligent Farmer to discover a remedy 

 for himself. 



The reason why so many men suppose, that all "Borers" 

 are. one and the same thing and belong to one and the 

 same species is, that they generally know them only in 

 the larva or grub state, which, as a general rule, is the 

 state in which they do the mischief Now, it is almost 

 always the case, that larvae resemble one another much 

 more closely than the perfect insects do. We observe a 

 very similar thing in the human species. Take a thou- 

 sand babies, and you will find scores of them that are so 

 nearly alike, that you cannot tell which is which. Take 



