22 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



to leave the ear. go underground to pass into the pupa, 

 and emerge thence in the winged moth-form the same 

 season, in time to lay eggs for the second brood of worms, 

 which, being of course greatly more numerous than the 

 first, is the one that does the principal niischiefi The 

 last brood goes underground in the same way and stays 

 there all the winter, ready to propagate the breed next 

 summer. The Scientific name of the insect is not given 

 in the Prairie Farmer, but it evidently belongs to the 

 Nociua family, (Owlet moths.) and the Order Lepidopte- 

 ra. I extract the following description of the larva, 

 which, being baaed upon numerous specimens, is more re- 

 liable than any I could draw up from a single specimen. 



"The worms, when fully grown, are about an inch in 

 length, [the figures give them as IJ inch long, and that 

 is the length of your specimen.] and vary much in color 

 and markings — some being brown, others green, striped 

 with brown, and of all the intermediate shades. The bo- 

 dy is sparingly clothed with short hairs, which rise from 

 numerous black spots or warts, on each segment ; and on 

 each side is a yellow or lighter-colored longitudinal 

 stripe. The younger caterpillars are of a reddish color, 

 and similarly striped^ and marked with numerous black 

 spots." 



The only remedy suggested is to destroy the first crop 

 of worms, so as to put a stop to the propagation of the 

 second brood. The damage done by this insect is not 

 confined to the mere loss of the kernels which it devours, 

 but it ia said that ''the ends of the ears, when partially de- 

 voured and left by this worm, aflbrd a secure retreat for 

 hundreds of small insects, which finish the work of destruc- 

 tion." From your account, the insect seems to have been 

 very numerous with you ; for you say that "almost every 

 ear in the field shows a hole through the husk, from 

 which, as you suppose, the varmint has come forth." 

 Yes, you supposed right; these were the holes bored by 

 the larva to make its escape into the earth. I notice 

 that you say that "some of these worms are of a green 

 color and others nearly black." This agrees with the de- 

 scription of them quoted above. It is stated that horses 

 fed upon "wormy" corn in Kansas died very generally of 

 '•blind staggers;" hence you had better be careful how 

 you feed it to your horses. 



C. P. "Wickersham, Peana. — The larvse walking about 

 in a moveable cocoon-like case, which you found on the 

 Norway Fir the first week in August, and which in the 

 beginning of October changed to a brown moth about i 

 inch long, with transparent glassy wings and feathered 

 antennae, are the true Thyridopteryx epkenicrce/ormis of 

 Haworth. I referred them myself doubtingly to this spe- 

 cies, but for greater certainty forwarded a specimen to 

 Dr. B. Clemens, our best N. A. authority on the Lepidop- 

 tera. Be kindly informs me that I had named the insect 

 correctly, but that long after Howarth's time it was 

 named by Dr. Packard as (Eceticus coni/e?'arum, the name 

 of Thyridopteryx epkemerceformis being erroneously ap- 

 plied by that writer to a very difTerent species; and fur- 

 ther that, after Dr. Packard's paper was published, Mr. 

 Grote gave a third name to this same species — Hymeno- 

 psyche thoracicum [-ica f]. Thus we have three different 

 names for the same insect, but according to the law of 

 priority the first must take precedence of the two subse- 

 quent ones. 



The species wrongly named Thyridopteryx ephevierce- 

 formis by Dr. Packard, is distinguishable at once from 

 your insect by the wings not being glassy-transparent. 

 Your insect is said by Mr. Cresson "to be very abundant 

 on the shade-trees in the streets of Philadelphia, being 

 commonly called the bag-worm, and to have been pecu- 

 liarly destructive to the arbor-vitce in ISUfi, stripping it 

 completely of its foliage." 1 have not met witn it out 

 West, and was glad to receive your specimens, though 

 not in as good order as is desirable. 



It were much to be wished that some of our younger 

 entomologists would be a little more careful in establish- 

 ing new species, new genera, and even new families up- 

 on very insufficient foundations. At the rate at which 

 they are now jirogresaing, we shall soon have as many 

 species as varieties, as many genera as species, and in the 

 end as many families as genera. 



C. H. Gushing, Kansas. — 1 do not believe that any of 

 your "grasshopper" eggs will hatch out this fall. Re- 

 spu«c(.ing your other questions, see ray Article on Grass- 

 hipper.s and Locusts, in the Puactical Enxomoloqibt, Vol. 

 II, No. 1. 



8. A. K., Mass. — The symmetrical masses of cocoon* 

 found on pear-trees, which you send, are those of some 

 Ichncumon-fiy — probably a Microyaster, They appear 

 identical with those sent me last spring by Mr. Cook of 

 your State, respecting which sec PnArxicAL Entomologist 

 I, p. 78. Mr. Cook's specimens were accidentally attach- 

 ed to the mass of eggs laid by the Moth of the common 

 "Caterpillar" of the Apple-tree, {CHsiocampa americana.) 



HOTE. 



The following should have been appended as a 

 foot-note to Practical Entomologist, Vol. II, 

 No. 1, p. 2, column 1, line 18, after the word "spe- 

 cies," but was accidentally omitted : — 



I have a single unusually long-winged % of Caloptenut 

 feviur-rubrum, in which the front wings are proportioned 

 to the body exactly as in a rather short- winged % spre- 

 ius, namely, as .83 to .80; but I have met with no such 

 case in the other sex. From the greater proportional 

 length of wing, spretus seems at first sight to be a larger 

 insect than /emwr-rwfirum; but on measuring the length 

 of the bodies of 6 9 spretus and 7 ^ femur -rubrum, the 

 average of the former was .97 inch and that of the latter 

 .98 inch, the extremes of each being respectively .91 — 

 1.08 inch and .92 — 1.05 inch. Although all the interme- 

 diate grades occur, yet on an average of a great number 

 of specimens, femur-rubrwm has nearly a joint and a half 

 more to its antennae than spretus. In spretus 9 % anten- 

 nfe averaged 23.66 joints, and 8 9 antennae 23.87 joints, 

 the extremes of each being respectively 23 — 24 and 23 — 

 25 joints. In femur -rubrum 11 -^ antennae averaged 24.82 

 joints, and 11 9 antennae 25.54 joints, the extremes of 

 each being respectively 23 — 27 and 24 — 27 joints. Conse- 

 quently in spretus 17 "J, 9 antennse averaged 23.76 joints, 

 and in femv.r~r\ibrum 22 '£ 9 antennce averaged 25.18 

 joints; the differences between the two % 9 averages be- 

 ing 1.42 joints, or nearly a joint and a half, as stated 

 above. A single % femur -rubruin, vf'\\.h. one antenna 22- 

 jointed and the other 19-jointed, had evidently had them 

 mutilated in the larval or pupal states, and was conse- 

 quently not included in the above calculation. It is pro- 

 per to add, that in both species there is some difficulty 

 in counting the antennal joints with even-handed preci- 

 sion, homologous pairs of joints near the base of the fla- 

 gellum and at its extreme tip being in different speci- 

 mens sometimes perfectly free, sometimes connate, and 

 sometimes so completely confluent as to form one long 

 joint without the least trace of any suture ; but in every 

 specimen of either species that I have examined, the 

 second joint of the flagellum is perfectly free and much 

 shorter than any of the others. Hence closet-naturalists, 

 who examined only a few specimens of each species, 

 might easily be led to suppose, that the proportions of 

 the antennal joints differed in each; which does not ap- 

 pear to be the case, the proportions being in reality vari- 

 able in either species within certain limits. b. ». w. 



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^^Sr-INDEX TO VOLUUE 1— At the time No. 12, of 

 Vol. 1 of the Practical Entomologist was printed, it had 

 not been decided whether to close the Volume with t^at 

 number, or to continue it to the end of the second year; 

 under those circumstances our Index and Title were not 

 issued. But having since concluded to commence a new 

 volume with the second years* issue, an Index and Title 

 page to Volume 1 have been printed, and will be furnish- 

 ed to those wisKing a copy. 



EBBATA in Vol. II, No. 1 



Page 9, column 1, line 1, for *• chrysalises" read "four 

 chrysalises." 



Page 9, column 1, line 12, for "I — 5 inch" read **1 — 5th 

 inch." 



