58 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



specify the particular tree or trees which it infests, is ap- 

 parently identical with an undescribed species, of which 

 I dug several dead specimens out of a Hick»>ry rail years 

 ago. Most certainly it is not the Scolytits dcntrurtor (Oli- 

 vier) of Europe, which preys exclusively on the Elm, nor 

 the Sco/ytus Ratzeburgii (Janson) of Europe, which preys 

 exclusively on the Birch, and has been confounded with 

 destructor by many authors. I have another undescribed 

 N. A. species, of which I obtained many specimens in 

 South Illinois, from what I believe was a beech. For 

 convenience' sake, I shall call, this last speciesya^i and 

 yours rari/a:, and proceed to distinguish the above-named 

 two European and our four North American species in 

 the following manner: — 



A. Color chestnut-brown. Elytral interstices with 

 more than a single row of punctures. (Venter finely, 

 deeply and closely punctate; 3rd and 4th ventral joints 

 ^ y with a minute tooth on their anterior margin.) 



Soolytus destructor (Europe.) 



S. Color black. Elytral interstices with a single row 

 of punctures. 



a. Venter very sparingly and rather obscurely punc- 

 tate. (Elytral interstices with a single somewhat 

 disorderly row of very minute punctures. The % 

 with a tubercle on the anterior margin of the 3rd 

 ventral joint, and the anterior margin of the 4th 

 joint acutely produced, reflexed and emarginate ; 

 the 5 with the ventral joints entire.) 



Scolytus Eatzeburgii (Europe.) 



b. Venter closely and very distinctly punctate. 



1. Elytral interstices each with a row of minute 

 widely distant punctures, so as to appear po- 

 lished instead of sub-opaque. (Head finely 

 rugoso-punctate. Posterior tibi?e simple. Ven- 

 tral joints % 9 entire.). ..Scolytus fagi, n. sp. 

 (N.A.) 



2. Elytral interstices sub-opaque, and each with 

 a row of largish confluent punctures, so as to 

 be almost punctato-striate, but much less 

 coarsely and deeply so than in the case of the 

 normal strife. (Head longitutlinally aciculate. 



Posterior tibice simple. Ventral joints % 



? 9 entire.) Scolytus caryae, n. sp. 



(N. A.) 



3. Elytral interstices punctato-striate so as to be 

 confounded with the normal strife of the elj'- 

 tra. (Head longitudinally aciculate. Poste- 

 rior tibice with long hairs behind. Ventral 

 joints 9 [and 'J, ?J entire.). ..Scojytus muticus 

 Say. (N.A.) 



C. Color black, with reddish-brown elytra. Elytral 

 interstices with a single row of obsolete punctures. (Head 

 longitudinally aciculate. The 3rd ventral joint % [and 

 9 ?J with three spines, 4th joint with a single smaller 

 spine.) Scolytus 4-spinosus Say. [S. A.) 



The male of fagi, n. sp., is distinguishable from the fe- 

 male by the front being widely and deeply excavated. 

 All that I have seen of caryaz, n. sp. seem to be females. 

 StiolytxLH fyri (Peck), which infests the pear-tree, and has 

 been erroneously supposed by many eastern authors to 

 be the cause of the well-known "fire-blight," is not a/Sffl)- 

 hjtus but, according to Harris, a Tomiciis. (Inj. Ins. p. 

 91.) .Fayt has been circumscribed from 6 specimens; ca- 

 ryos from 4, including that now sent to me. For the cha- 

 racters of the two European species I am indebted to 

 Janson, (Slainton Ent. Ann., ISali, pp. 87 — 9,) and for 

 those of Say's two species to Say's own descriptions. As 

 I am not acquainted with either of these last, I may pos- 

 sibly have misunderstood the description of the elytral 

 striffi in muticus. Unfortunately Say does not state upon 

 what tree or trees either of his two species occurred. But 

 from the analogy of the other four species, and of the Eu- 

 ropean Sco/ytus hoemorrhous which attacks the Plum-tree, 

 and the European Scoli/tus pygmims which attacks the 

 Oak, I should infer that each of them inhabits some pe- 

 culiar species or genus of trees, being what I have elsc- 

 whe?H! called "Phytophagic species." 



To prevent confusion it may be well to say here, that 

 the insect known in England as Scolytus destructor is of- 

 ten designated on the continent of Europe as Eccoptogas- 

 ter scolytus. But Janson has shown in the passage above 

 referred to, that the generic name Sco/ytus (A. D. 1764) 

 has priority over Eccoplogaster (A. D. 17»3), although the 



specific name scolytus (A. D. 1792) has priority over de- 

 structor (A. D. 1795.) As, however, we can scarcely call 

 the insect Scolytus scolytus, we must violate here the'strict 

 law of priority and call it Sco/ytus destructor. 



(Since the above was written, Mr. Riley has informed 

 me that his species, which he has described in the Prai- 

 rie Farmer, Feb. 2, 1867, under the name of Sco/ytus caryoe, 

 infests the ITickory, just as I anticijiated. The proper 

 designation of this insect will bo Scolytus caryce, Riley.) 



D. F. C, III. — The minute 4-winged insects, about l-18th 

 of an inch long, and with their wings of a dull milk-white 

 color, are an undescribed species of A/eurodes. You found 

 them on apple leaves; several years ago I found precisely 

 the same species on the leaves of the wild crab. The gen- 

 us gives its name to a family, which is closely allied to the 

 Plant-lice and the Bark-lice, and consequently belongs to 

 the Order Homoptera; and, as is so often the case in these 

 last two families, each species is confined to a particular 

 genus of plants and can live upon no other. In supposing 

 that this minute Bug was a minute Moth, you are in very 

 good company. Linnaeus, Reaumur and GeofTroy made 

 precisely the same mistake. 



This insect cannot be the cause of Fireblight, because it 

 is quite scarce and Fireblight quite common. 'The minute 

 larva, which is shaped much like a female bark-louse, 

 does not live in the bark, but on the under surface of the 

 leaves, sucking the sap therefrom like a Plant-louse. 



Isaac Hicks, N. Y. — The pupse of Dr. Trimble's Apple- 

 maggot reached me in good order, and are precisely iden- 

 tical with those previously received from Connecticut and 

 Massachusetts. I hope to use the information you give 

 me upon this subject m a future Paper. — I am quite unac- 

 quainted with the Bark-louse of the Tulip-tree, and shall 

 be very glad to receive specimens of it. The "swarms of 

 a new kind of fly, that made a noise like a swarm of bees" 

 round the Tulip-tree that had been almost killed by these 

 Bark-lice, were perhaps attracted there by the sap issuing 

 from the minute punctures made by the Bark-lice. I once 

 saw Hornets and other kinds of Wasps swarming in the 

 same manner round a Black Oak, that had been badly 

 bored up by a Sapsucker, and many of them settled upon 

 the holes made by the Bird, anil evidently drinking up 

 the sap that oozed therefrom. — Many thanks for the facts 

 you furnish about Birds and Insects, which I shall take a 

 future opportunity to use. 



The Critic criticized. 



In the Prairie Farmer of Jan. 19, 1867, there appears a 

 criticism of "the Report of the Entomologist in the Annu- 

 al Agriculttiral Report, 1865," accusing the aforesaid En- 

 tomologist of " calling the perfect insect of the apple-tree 

 Borer, Saperda bivittata, a btdterfly on page 205." Now, in 

 the first place, the article, of which page 205 forms a part^ 

 is not written by the Entomologist, Mr. Glover, but by 

 Mr. Wm. C- Lodge, of pelaware; and in the second place 

 the writer, in the passage referred to, expressly calls the 

 insect in question, not a butterfly, but a "beetle," He 

 says, indeed, and says truly, that this beetle "flies about 

 at night," but that is not calling it a "butterfly" nor even 

 a moth. B. n. w. 



OBITUARY. 



Dinn, of Tvphoid Fever, on January 11th. 1867, Dr. 

 BRACKENRIDGE CLEMENS, of Eastim, P<nna. It was 

 onlv the middle of December when he was at the Hajl of 

 the' Entomological Society, in Philadelphia, looking as 

 hale and hearty as ever. He was an excellent entomologist, 

 with good, sound, general views, and had devoted his es- 

 pecial attention to the Lepidoptera (moths) of this country. 

 Readers of the Practical Entomologist will recall his name 

 as having been more than once quoted as authority in the 

 "Answers to Correspondents." Peace to his ashes! 



', notices! 



The Sorgo Jonrnal. — This work is published monthly 

 in octavo form, at Cincinnati, Ohio, at the low price of One 

 l>o//ar per year, and is now in the fourth year of its exist- 

 ence. It will be found very useful to those who grow Sor- 

 go, though it contains many excellent articles upon such 

 other suBjecta as are generally interesting to the Farmer. 



