THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



3h 



T. T. Soathwick, N. Y. — You say the 17-year Locusts 

 were very thick in parts of Livingston county, N. Y., in 

 1865. Please inquire liow far they extended in that year 

 in your neighborhood, and report the result to us. The 

 17-year Locust is easily distinguishable from other kinds 

 of Locust by the wings being marked with bright orange 

 and the top of the thorax having no orange markings. 



E. D. Wright, Ohio. — The caterpillar that infests your 

 trees is most probably the Eed-humped Prominent, (JVb- 

 iodonfa concinnn.) which has a red head and a red hump 

 on the fore part of its back. In August and September 

 they descend from the trees to the ground, and spin a co- 

 coon under any loose rubbish or sometimes partly under 

 ground. The moth comes out in June and July of the 

 following year, and lays its eigs on the under side' of the 

 leaves, just as you descri^^e. In 'Ra,vTi?>^^ Injurious Insects, 

 p. 425, you will see a figure of the caterpillar, and in 

 Plate 6, fig. 11, a colored figure of the moth, which has 

 full-sized wings in both sexes, unlike the notorious Can- 

 kerv/orm, the female of which is wingless. I have found 

 the caterpillars on my Apple-trees as early as July 21. 



As to the apple-worm or codling-moth, you will find a 

 short notice of that insect in our answer to Isaac Hicks, 

 N. Y. • B. D. w. 



G. W. H. of Ohio wishes the best information on fruit- 

 growing. Join a Horticultural Society of practical fruit- 

 growers in your vi.Mnity, and if there is none in existence, 

 form one. An interchange of experience is worth more 

 than any bonk you can purchase; in the meantime, get 

 the reports of State and other local Horticultural Socie- 

 ties. L. 



Meani of Defence Against Noxious Insects. 



We occupy considerable space in this number 

 with an extract from the excellent Treatise on In- 

 jurious Insects, by Vincent Kbllar, a German Natu- 

 ralist. This useful work was published (in 1837) 

 by the command of Emperor Francis I of Austria, 

 for the benefit of the farmers, foresters and garden- 

 ers of that country. In 1840 it was translated from 

 the German into the English language, and illus- 

 trated by numerous engravings, by Jane and Mary 

 Loudon, with notes by Prof Westwood. It con- 

 tains avast deal of useful information, which should 

 be made known to our farmers, gardeners, &c., and 

 we shall, from time to time, make such extracts 

 from it as might interest our readers. The follow- 

 ing extract throws out some good hints, and is well 

 worth the space it occupies : — 



" The means of defence against noxious insects 

 are two-fold ; first, those which nature employs to 

 circumscribe the too great increase of certain in.sects; 

 and secondly, those which human understanding 

 can oppose to the evil arising from the superfluity 

 of noxious insects. 



" 1. Means contrived by nature to confine 

 THE devastations OF INSECTS. — Many appear- 

 ances in nature, even such as at first cause anxiety 

 and care, on account of their injurious consequences, 

 are found to be in many re;gpects highly beneficial 

 and salutary, although we may not always under- 

 stand them. Thus, continued rain, which in many 

 respects is extremely hurtful, contributes greatly to 

 diminish the number of noxious insects, and lor a 

 series of years renders them entirely iunocuous. 

 Tiis continued rain may, for example, take place at 

 the pairing time of certain insects, which will greatly 



obstruct them ; or at the time when the insects arc 

 in the caterpillar or larva state, when thousands die 

 in consequence of bad weather, and our fields, or- 

 chards and woods are cleared of a dangerous enemy 

 for many years. 



"Thus, in the spring of 1832, after incessant rain, 

 I saw the caterpillars of the white-thorn butterfly, 

 which for many years had not only stripped all the 

 hedges, but also done considerable injury to the 

 fruit-trees, dying by thousands, as if of a dropsy. 

 The caterpillars swelled, became week, and died. 

 If they did attain the pupa state, they suffered from 

 the same evil, and the perfect insect was very rarely 

 developed, on which account our gardens in the fol- 

 lowing years were entirely spared. 



" Late frosts are also very beneficial, as they en- 

 tirely destroy many insects in their larva state. I 

 had an opportunity, early in the summer of 1833; 

 of observing great devastation on the fir-trees in the 

 neighborhood of Vienna, by a species of saw-fly; 

 ( Tenfhredo rufa, King.) The larva of this insect 

 had attacked certain parts of a young forest of 

 Scotch fir, and the question was how their ravages 

 were to be prevented from increasing next year. 

 Fortunately, in the month of Blay a moderate frost 

 set in, and thousands of these larva were seen hang- 

 ing to the twigs, as if scorched. In this manner 

 their increase was limited for the future. 



" A multitude of insects are also destroyed by in^ 

 undations, particularly such as undergo their trans- 

 formations in the earth, or live upon it in all their 

 stages, more especially if the inundation happens 

 when they are near their final transformation. In 

 meadows the different species of May-bugs (Mrlo- 

 lonthiclse) suffer by this means ; in kitchen gardens 

 the mole-cricket; in orchards the pupa of the small 

 winter-moth {Geometra brumata), when the water 

 overflows the gardens late in the autumn, at the 

 time when the moth is usually developed from the 

 pupa lying in the earth. 



" Besides the means of preserving the equi'ibriii.:! 

 by storms, and the effects of the elements, n.ituid 

 employs a multitude of others, although n it mi 

 speedy and efficient, to the same end. 



" To these belong the enemies of the dcstruciivo 

 insects which we meet with in all classes of the nui^ 

 mal kingdom. Among the mammiferous animals 

 the bats hold a conspicuous place for their destruc- 

 tion of insects. We only see them flying about in 

 the twilight, precisely at the time when many moths 

 leave their hiding-places, and hover round the 

 flowers. As they live almost entirely on insectSj 

 they no doubt devour great numbers of the hurtful 

 sorts. And perhaps it is to be ascribed to this cir- 

 cumstance that fruit-trees standing near houses, 

 churches, barns, &c., suffer less from insects that! 

 isolated trees. They do not confine themselves t<J 

 moths, but eat beetles which fly about in the even- 

 ing; among others, some weevils, injurious to the 

 flowers and buds of fruit-trees, as the Curculiu {An- 

 thonormts) poniorum, and pi/ri. These creatui-cs; 

 as they do no injury, should, therefore, be carefully 

 preserved. 



" To the insectivorous mammalia also belong va- 



