THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



it, under pieces of board laid flat on the ground by way 

 of traps; and then visiting the traps with a lantern at 

 bed-time and the first thing after it is light in the morn- 

 ing. A great deal may also be effected by pertinaciously 

 killing every individual that you come across, when you 

 are spading and hoeing your ground, lulus, so far as I 

 am aware, is like almost all other articulate apimals in 

 laying eggs and not bringing forth its young alive. 



Since the above was in type, I have ascertained that 

 Br. Fitch has found the very European centipede referred 

 to above {Potydesmus complanaiics) to destroy the roots of 

 young cabbages, onions, &c., in New York, and that he 

 has also noticed some species or other of lulus — he does 

 not specify which — intermi.xed among them. {A?in. Reg. 

 Rural Affairs, 1861, pp. 96 and 100.) 



Willia C. Fish, Mass. — The very minute gnat that you 

 send, the larva of which inhabits a fold on the edge of one 

 of the terminal leaves of the cranberry-plant, is, as you 

 suppose a Cccidomyia, or gall-gnat. There are whole hosts 

 of these gall-gnats inhabiting similar folds and other de- 

 formations on various plants, which, like your insect, are 

 undescribed. As you say that there are not usually more 

 than two of these galls to one shoot of the vine, and some- 

 times only one, I should scarcely have supposed that they 

 could do material injury to the vine, judging from the an- 

 alogy of similar galls on other plants. Yet you say, that 

 the owner of a cranberry bog of seven acres, estimated 

 the damage done by this insect in ]S6fi, at several hun- 

 dred dollars, a.nd that "the mischief done is in killing 

 the extreme tip of the vine, which prevents the forma- 

 tion of a fruit-bud for the next year's growth, unless the 

 vine by an extra effort puts them out at the side, as is 

 frequently the case." Of tlie five specimens sent by you, 

 which you bred from these cranberry-galls, one was a 

 minute Chalcis fly, which had of course preyed upon the 

 larva of one of the gall-makers. Thus, as you may now 

 see, you have a good friend at hand to check the unlimit- 

 ed increase of this insect. Your specimens were in very 

 poor order, and next year I should be glad if you could 

 send me a number of the galls containing the living lar- 

 vae and pupse, packed in any little tin box, the tighter 

 the better. Baron Osten Sacken describes another and 

 very different gall made by a gall-gnat on Vaceinium 

 (Cranberry) or Gaylussacia(?). This is in accordance with 

 what I believe to be a general law, namely, that where 

 01^ species of a given genus of gall-makers infests a given 

 genus of plants, many more species of the same genus 

 may almost invariably be found thereupon. 



The two flies sent are Eristalis cuprovitlala, (Weid.), a 

 very common species. The green carrion-beetle is &Sap- 

 rinus, and identical with two specimens received by me 

 from Colorado, which I have not been able to name, and 

 which may probably be undescribed, though there are 

 already 53 described species belonging to this genus. 

 What you take for an ant is a female Muiilla — the fe- 

 males in which genus are always wingless, but may be 

 distinguished from ants at once by their antennee not be- 

 ing flail-shaped, It is undoubtedly the M. Tnontivaga, so 

 accurately and fully described by Mr. Cresson in ih*i Pro- 

 ceedings, and like that writer I have received it myself 

 from Colorado. I presume that you yourself received both 

 these last two insects from the Rocky Mountain region, 

 though you say nothing to that effect. 



Answers to Miss Marion Hobart, Thomas T. Smith and 

 Geo. Scarborough, will be given in our ne.xt number 



Another Humbug. 



The following Advertisement has been exten- 

 sively inserted in the Agricultural Press, and we 

 republish it in our columns without charging Mr. 

 Sheldon anything : — 



TO FEUIT-GROWERS. 

 P. B. SHELDON'S 

 COMPOSITION FOR DESTROYING BORERS and 

 other Insects, that infest Fruit and Ornamental Trees. 

 The Composition, together with the method of applying, 

 patented. Individual, Town, County and State Rights for 

 sale. Send for Circular. P. B. SHELDON, 



Clinton House, Rochester, N. Y. 



So far so good. But " the proof of the pudding 



'« in the eating," and here is what Mr. J. D. Wis- 



ner, of West Dresden, N. Y., says about this "Pa- 

 tent Composition," in the Ciilfivator and Coimtri/ 

 Gentleman, of November 22, 1866 : — 



"P.B.Sheldon's Patent Composition for Fruit-trees lips 

 been tested in this vicinity, this se;i.son, on hundreds of 

 trees. The result has been worse than a failure, as it has 

 killed quite a number of thrifty trees, and others as good 

 as dead. It was removed in a few weeks after it was ap- 

 plied, or it would have been far worse for tlierest. Wher- 

 ever it washes down the tree, the bark dies and cracks 

 open to tlie wood. There are also borers in tlie trees 

 now." 



This is really the unkinJest cut of all. Tt not 

 only, as it appears, dues not kill the borers, but it 

 kills the trees ! ! Poo;;^Mr. Sheldon ! ! 



NOTICES. 



The American Agriculturist, published monthly in 

 New York, at only $1,50 a year, is one of the largest, the 

 cheapest and the best of the very valuable class of peri- 

 odicals to which it belongs. There are single illustrations 

 in single numbers, which, as works of art, are almost 

 worth the subscription money for a whole year. We 

 would instance the Wood engraving of a Merino Ram in 

 the number for November, 1866, drawn by Edwin Forbes 

 of New York, and that of Highland Cattle, designed by 

 the French Artist, Rosa Bonlieur, which appeared a 

 month or two ago. What can be more charming, again, 

 and more life-like and natural, than the Guinea-pig, in 

 the November number, poking his curious nose among a 

 happy family, composed of a Pussy-cat and her five kit- 

 tens? We can almost hear the intruder sniff audibly, as 

 he pauses with uplifted head to ascertain what kind of a 

 reception he is likely to meet with. In scientific matters, 

 it is only necessary to point to the admirable series of Bo- 

 tanical articles contributed by Dr. Asa Gray. But what 

 preeminently distinguishes this pa|)er, is the honest and 

 fearless war which it has long waged aguinst the thou- 

 sand and one Swindling Iluniliugs, for cheating the Farm- 

 er out of his money. Tiie genus "Ilurnbug" is a most ex- 

 tensive one, and the number of species comprised in it is 

 quite numerous. Yet multitudinous as is this great army, 

 and powerful as it is in the sinews of war, the Agricultu- 

 rist has not hesitated to attack it. We must confess that 

 we are astonished at such uni)aralleled boldness. We 

 have occasionally ventured ourselves to skirmish a little 

 with one single species — classified by the best authors as 

 Humbuggus entomologicus ; but this fighting hand to hand 

 against such fearful odds, is more than we should have 

 ever dared to attempt. 



The Country Gentleman is issued weekly, at Albany, 

 New Y'ork, forming yearly two ([Uarto volumes of 4U0 

 pages each, at the low jjrice of .$2,50 a year, if paid in ad- 

 vance. It is very fully illustrated, and has been long 

 adopted by Dr. Fitch, the State Entomologist of N. Y., as 

 a medium for the publication of some of his very reliable 

 and able Papers ou Economic Entomology. 



The Prairie Farmer is printed and published at Chica- 

 go, 111., in the same form as tlie preceding, at %2 per an- 

 num, and is one of the ablest and best and most widely 

 circulated papers of its class. Its chief entomological 

 contributor is Mr. C. V. Riley, of Chicago, a promising 

 young entomologist, who has already made several valu- 

 able additions to our knowledge of the habits of Noxious 

 Insects. Dr. Fitch long ago characterized the Prairie 

 Farmer as "that excellent periodical, which has contri- 

 buted so much to render the agriculturists of the West 

 enlightened and intelligent in their vocation." (N, Y. 

 Rep. I, p. 282.) 



Colman's Rural World is published bi-monthly, at St. 

 Louis, Mo., in the same form as the two preceding, mak- 

 ing one yearly volume of about 400 pages, at $2 per an- 

 num. As we might anticipate, from the place of its pub- 

 lication, it circulates more especially in Southern lati- 

 tudes, and often contains valuable papers on the manage- 

 ment of what are peculiarly Southern crops. In the list 

 of special contributors for ISOti, we notice, among others, 

 the names of Dr. Hull, the distinguished pomologist, of 

 Alton, 111., and of Mr. Carew Sanders, the well-known 

 scientific Horticulturiat, 



