64 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ANSWEES TO COREESPONDENTS. 



JJY B. 1). WALSH, M. A.— Associate Editok. 



L. S. Pennington, Illinois. — There are two very distinct 

 kinds of barli-lice or scale-insects that commonly infest 

 the apple-tree in Illinois ; one of these is dirty-white, of 

 an elongate slightly curvilinear shape, rather hunched, 

 and about thrice as long as wide; the other is milk-white, 

 oval, very flat, and about half as long again as wide. 

 The first is the common imported Bark-louse, which has 

 been gradually working westward through Illinois for 

 the last ten or twelve years, and within the last year or 

 two has reached Rook Island County, on the Mississippi 

 Eiver, and, as it seems from your account, Whiteside Co. 

 also. The second is an indigenous insect, and I have no- 

 ticed it for many years on crabs and willows, and in com- 

 paratively small numbers on apple-trees. This year, on 

 certain branches of one of my apple-trees, I find it so 

 thick, that it completely covers the bark, and would, no 

 doubt, if not attended to, kill the tree in a year or two. 

 Occasionally it happens that the two species occur promis- 

 cuously on the same tree; but it is far more common for 

 each to be met with by itself. The imported insect, if 

 allowed to run its natural course, is certain death to any 

 tree that it attacks, when it is first introduced into a new 

 neighborhood; but after a few years it is attacked by can- 

 nibal insects, chiefly Lady-birds, (Coccinella,) which thin 

 it out and prevent it from increasing so exorbitantly as 

 before. Until this year, I had not supposed that the' in- 

 digenous species would ever multiply to any very serious 

 extent on apple-trees, though I had seen it in one instance 

 sufficiently numerous to kill willow-trees; and Mr. Kin- 

 ney, the Rock Island nurseryman, who has noticed it for 

 many years on one or two of his apple-trees, was of the 

 same opinion. 



You enquire as to the safety of petroleum as a remedv. 

 Last spring, on a few branches of two dift'erent apple- 

 trees, I found the imported Bark-louse pretty thick. So I 

 trimmed the twigs off pretty closely on these particular 

 branches and painted the trimmed limbs with common 

 Kerosene, using for the purpose what painters call a 

 "sash-brush." On a close examination this spring, I find 

 that the result was quite satisfactory, no new bark-lice be- 

 ing to be found, though the old dead scales still adhere to 

 the bark, and the painted limbs being not killed. It is 

 certainly possible that if a whole tree were treated in this 

 manner, the consequences might be fatal ; and here, as 

 in so many other cases, we need carefully conducted 

 experiments to guide us. I notice, however, that Mr. Ca- 

 vanach, the Brooklyn gardener, says, that he commonly 

 uses Kerosene to kill bark-lice without any ill effects re- 

 sulting therefrom. (N. Y. Tribune, March 16, 1866.) 



Samuel Canby, Del. — There are several distinct species 

 of the genus rmen, which infest woollen clothes, carpets, 

 furs, feathers, Ac; but as the habits of all of them are 

 nearly the same, it is of no practical importance to dwell 

 on this point. As a general rule, the species that infest 

 furs are distinct from those that infest carpets, and so 

 forth ; but almost all of them in the larva state live in 

 little elongate cases, which they construct from the in- 

 fested material; and all of them finally change into 

 small, four-winged moths or " millers" of a dull grayish 

 color, with no very conspicuous markings. It is of course 

 these moths that lay the eggs from which proceed the 

 larvio that do all the mischief. The moth itself is inca- 

 pable of eating into anything, having no jaws to eat with 

 and nothing but a proboscis or tongue ad;ipted for suck- 

 ing liquid food. These insects pass the winter in their 

 eases, and come out into the moth or winged state about 

 the time that the first warm weather commences. They 

 are all of them imported insects, and are just as common 

 in Europe as in America. 



When furs are bagged up for the summer to preserve 

 them from the moth's laying its eggs on them, care should 

 be taken that there are no larviE already in them. Other- 

 wise you might have a largo colony raised in perfect se- 

 curity, the paper or linen bag preventing you from watch- 

 ing their operations. Tobacco and camphor, as all good 

 housewives know, are offensive to the moth ; and either 

 she will not deposit her eeigs upon such articles as are 

 constantly m..v.l ab^iit and exposed to the open sunlight, 

 or if byi-lian.c- -h.' (1,., , >i>, the young larvie are soon crip- 

 pled and .lr.ir,,yr,l l,y I lie rViugh usage they meet with. 

 It is remarkable that the carpet-moth generally lays her 



egga near the wall, because the carpet is there seldom 

 disturbed by walking on it. Hence, if tobacco is used to 

 keep carpets from being attacked by the moth, it is gene- 

 rally sufficient to scatter it next the wall. Of course, the 

 oftener a carpet is taken up and beaten, the less chance 

 is there for a colony of the larvae of the carpet-moth to 

 establish itself therein. 



Silas F. Judson, Michigan. — You say you have a " small 

 worm (it may be the cut-worm) that eats up your onionS 

 and most of your garden sauce, even potatoes and peas, 

 but does not touch the corn," and you enquire what is the 

 best way "to get rid of them." Are you certain it is the 

 same insect that attacks all these plants ? Likely enough 

 there may be half a dozen difi'erent kinds attacking your 

 garden. As you give no description of the " worm," ex- 

 cept that it is "small," nor of the way in which it ope- 

 rates, whether under ground or above ground, whether 

 by day or by night, whether solitary or several in com- 

 pany, ic. Ac, it is utterly impossible even to guess what 

 insect you refer to. You might as well write to a Detec- 

 tive Officer at Detroit and say "There is a rather short 

 man perpetually stealing bacon, flour and meal out of my 

 smoke-house. Please tell me what his name is and where 

 he lives." In the whole United States there are about 

 thirty thousand distinct kinds of insects? How then is 

 it possible for any one to tell which particular one you 

 mean, when all you say about it is that it is "small?" 

 If you will send me specimens by mail in a little paste- 

 board box, (a gun-cap box answers a very good purpose,) 

 I can probably tell you what they are, and perhaps how 

 to fight them. But at present I can tell you nothing, be- 

 cause I know nothing. 



P. C. Truman, Iowa. — The borers you sent arrived in 

 first-rate order, and belong boith of them to the same spe- 

 cies, one being in the larva state and the other in the per- 

 fect or winged state. They are the Saperda calcarata of 

 Say, and have long been known to infest different sjiecies 

 of Poplar. Botanically the Cottonwood, out of which you 

 split them, is a true Poplar, though in common parlance 

 it is not so considered. I was very glad to get them, as 

 the insect does not occur in this neighborhood, so far as 

 I am aware, and was new to my collection. As you en- 

 quire respecting some elementary work on Entomology, 

 I should recommend you to Harris's Injurious Insects, 

 edition of 1862, Boston. It contains many plates and 

 figures, and you can probably get it through any book- 

 seller. The price is, I believe, $5 for the edition with co- 

 lored plates. That with plain plates is cheaper, but how 

 much cheaper I do not know. 



Lucy D. Hunt, Mass. — The worm that you find so trou- 

 blesome in flour and rye meal in July and August, and 

 which you describe as about an inch long, must be the 

 common " meal-worm," an imported insect, very common 

 on both sides the Atlantic, though you describe it as 

 "white and flat," whereas it is in reality of a yellowish- 

 white color, and no more flat than your knitting-needle. 

 " The long black bug, similar to the snapping-bug," which 

 you find "in and near the flour and meal," must be the 

 same insect in its perfect or winged state. Scientifically 

 it is called Tcnebriomolitor, a,ni it is atrue Beetle belong- 

 ing to the Order Co/eoptera, and difl'ering from the Snap- 

 ping-beetles (Elatcr family) in hiving only four, instead 

 of.A'De joints to its hiud feet (tarsi,) and in a variety of 

 other respects. You will find a figure both of the larva 

 and of the Perfect Beetle in Harris's Injurious Insects, pp. 

 10 — 11. The Bacon-bug {Dermestes /ocn«)'ii«), which you 

 well describe as "a small, black bug (beetle) with a dirty 

 white stripe across the middle of his back," and which, 

 as some of your neighbors thought, had produced your 

 flour-worms, has an entirely different larva, furnished 

 with long hairs, and could not live in flour. 



ACKNCWLEDGMENTS. 



We thankfully acknowledge the receipt of the following 

 sums, donated for the support of our paper: — 



Edward Burgess, Massachusetts $5.00 



J. J. Thomas, New York 1.00 



Samuel Canby, Delaware 1.00 



John W. Bailey, New York 1.00 



LaMar K. Ilayhurst, M. D., Missouri l.UO 



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