THE 



|ra^tital (Bnt0W0l00fet 



A MONTHLY BULLETIN, 



Published by the Entomological Society of Pbiladeipbia, for the dissemination of valuable 

 knowledge among Agriculturists and Horticulturists. 



Vol. I. 



APRIL 30, 1866. 



No. 7. 



®lu Ipraclical (Bntomotojgi.^t. 



KS- Published at the Hall of the Society, No. 518 South 

 Thirteenth Street, where all (except Western) communi- 

 cations should be addressed. 



^^9" Tkrjis — 50 cents a year, in advance. 



^^al^All subscriptions must date from the commence- 

 ment of the volume. 



^®*Our Western Correspondents will please send their 

 communications direct to Benj. D. Walsh, M.A„ Associate 

 Editor, Rock Island, Illinois. 



E. T. CRESSON. ") Publication Committee 



AUG. R. GROTE, \ and 



J. w. McAllister, J Emtoks. 



BENJ. D. WALSH, Rock Island, Illinois, 



Associate Editor. 



PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 30, 18CC. 



THE STUDY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



We are glad to record as one of the results of 

 the teachings of our paper, a desire with many of 

 our subscribers to study the beautiful branch of 

 Natural Sciences, Entomology. Why this branch 

 is so much neglected we are at a loss to know. 

 While other departments have their attractions, the 

 same facilities for study do not exist as in Entomo- 

 logy. Every city and town, every field and wood 

 in the country, present at the proper season oppor- 

 tunities for the study of the habits and capture of 

 specimens of insects. What farmer's boy has not 

 chased, in the dusk of evening, the " lightning 

 bug" or "fire-fly," or those beautiful moths ( Sphin- 

 gidee) that fly at night, and in the obscurity are 

 taken for humming-birds, and what country house 

 is there without its "butterfly" impaled upon a pin 

 and placed in some prominent place for the admi- 

 ring gaze of the youngsters? 



Habits formed in youth are hard to shake off, and 

 to those of our readers who have been or are boys, 

 and have indulged in this apparently childlike 

 amusement, we would say be boys again in so far as 

 capturing insects is concerned, but bring the wis- 

 dom of your manhood into play, and study the ha- 

 bits, the localities, the structure and form.atiou of 

 the beautiful and delicate objects that make up the 

 insect world. We know it will repay you. 



The expense attending the study, in comparison 

 with other branches of science, is so trifling as to 

 be of little or no account. A good magnifying 

 glass, a box or two of insect pins — pins made spe- 

 cially — a few boxes made lightly and according to 

 the fancy of the student, lined with cork, in which 

 to place specimens, a few good standard books, and 

 your outfit is complete. 



TJie rooms of the Entomological Society are 

 opened for visitors every week-day, and such of 

 our correspondents and friends as desire to com- 

 pare specimens or view our collection will be wel- 

 come. 



THE MEASUEING-WOEM. 



{Ennonws subsignaria.) 



As the warm weather approaches and the mea- 

 suring-worm makes its appearance upon the shade- 

 trees in our city, much discussion will ensue as to 

 the best remedy to apply, that the destruction of 

 this abominable pest may be final and complete. 



The natural history of this insect is briefly 

 this : — From the cluster of eggs deposited upon 

 the trunk and branches of the tree last summer, 

 by the female moth, a brood of small caterpillars 

 come forth, as soon as the buds begin to expand 

 into leaves, which soon crawl to the upper branches 

 and scatter about the young shoots in the tree-tops, 

 where £hey live quietly and unobserved for a week 

 or so. They increase in size and voracity with the 

 growth of the foliage, and, when about half-grown, 

 they become more conspicuous, and commence their 

 saltatorial exercises, which latter are continued 

 until they have attained their full growth, previous 

 to their transformation into the chrysalis state. In 

 the heat of the day they delight to suspend from 

 their threads, but as night approaches they spin up 

 into their homes in the tree branches. The cater- 

 pillar sheds its skin several times, and finally, when 

 fully fed up — towards the end of June — it under- 

 goes its transformation into the chrysalis state, in 

 an open net-work which it constructs among the 

 half-eaten leaves. It remains in this state about a 

 week, when the insect emerges from its cocoon, 

 transformed into a moth of a beautiful satiny-white 



