THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



67 



head, and, when full-grown, have its body striped 

 lengthwaj's with black and white, and its head "the 

 same color as the body." Evidently J. S. D., not 

 being aware that there are thousands of dlfTerent 

 kinds of borers, and finding one borer in Hogweed 

 stalks and another in Corn stalks, jumped to the 

 conclusion that the two must be one and the same 

 insect, and manufactured "out of whole cloth" that 

 story about its migrating from Hogweed to Corn, 

 which is contrary to all entomological analogy. 



4th. The "enlargement of the skin on the upper 

 third of the body, resembling a puff in a ladgs 

 slecre," is rather loosely defined, seeing that the 

 writer does not refer us to any particular fashion- 

 plate in any particular Lady's iMagazine. But I 

 suppose from the context, that this must refer to 

 the insect's passing into the pupa state. Now, in 

 the pupa state, all borers without exception lie still 

 and eat nothing; in fact they have then neither 

 legs to walk with, nor mouth to eat with, nor 

 anus to discharge their fxres, although many of 

 them have an apparatus of little hooks, by which 

 they work their way for some short distance out of 

 the earth or the vegetable substance, in which 

 they had previously lain imbedded. How then 

 can it be possible for this boring pupa of J. S. D.'s 

 to travel about in the open air and "select a large 

 stalk of corn?" He might as well tell us that a 

 corpse screwed up in a coffin could travel about in 

 a Cemetery, and select a large and handsome tomb. 

 One thing is just as possible as the other. 



5th. The North Carolina farmers need not go to 

 work to destroy the " fire-flies," under the false idea 

 that they produce "bud-worms;" for, as I have al- 

 ready shown, fire-flies in the larva state are benefi- 

 cial and not iinxious insects — the friends and not 

 the fiocx of the flirmer. 



Moral. — Before men undertake to write about 

 the Natural History of Insects, they should learn 

 the rudimental principles of Entomology. B. D. W. 



THE IMPOSTEB GOOSEBERRY SAW-FLT. 



i^Mcniatus otntricosus.'^ 



Mr. Jas. H. Parsons, of Franklin, Delaware Co., 

 N. Y., informs me that it is this insect, and not 

 the Native American Saw-fly (Priatiphora grossu- 

 larix,') that infests his currant bushes, as the larvjic 

 were "gi-een covered with black dots." " It first," 

 he says, "made its appearance in his neighborhood 

 three years ago, completely defoliating currant- 

 bushes in certain localities, in others scarcely inju- 

 ring them at all. In 18G5 it was very destructive, 

 generally continuing till late in August. But in 

 1866 it appeared and disappeared in May on his 

 own bushes, re-appeared in June, but disappeared 

 again before the close of the month and was n^ 

 seen afterwards." The re-appearance in June was 

 probably caused by some of the pupae, that had 

 wintered underground, failing to develop into flies 

 as early as usual, as I had several flies of the second 

 or summer brood, that did not come out till nearly 

 a month later than usual. (Practical Entomolo- 

 gist, Vol. I, p. 120.) The non-appearance of the 

 usual second brood in 1866, must have been due to 



the first brood having been preyed upon extensively 

 by some insect or other enemy, or possibly to heavy 

 rains or other peculiarities of weather. 



Mr. Parsons also says that '^measure currant- 

 worms" (evidently those of the Ellopia ribearia of 

 Fitch.) "about \\ inches long and of a yellow color 

 with black dots, were found upon his bushes in 1865 

 and 1866, though in small numbers. In a pint of 

 the green w^rms of the imported Paw-fly there 

 would not be found perhaps more than a dozen of 

 the yellow measuring worms." (Respecting these 

 last, which are a Native American insect, see 

 Practical Entomologist, Vol. I, p. 122.) 



B. D. w. 



TEEE CUT-WOEMS. 



On pages 85 — 6 of the First Volume of the 

 Practical Entomologist, I gave an account of 

 certain Cutworms, which Mr. Riley of Chicago had 

 ascertained to climb trees and destroy the buds 

 thereon. I then and there stated my belief, that 

 these insects would prove to belong to the genus 

 IlaJrna. At the Illinois State Fair I saw a moth 

 in Mr.- Riley's collection, which he had bred from 

 one of his three tree-cutworms, described by him 

 as the " Dark-sided Cutworm ;" and it proved to be 

 really a Hadena, and either identical with or close- 

 ly allied to the species known as chenopodii, which 

 I had myself bred from pupEB dug up in my gar- 

 den. B. D. W 



DOCTORING FRUIT TREES AGAIN. 



The following article is from the Industrial Ga- 

 zette, Louisville, Kentucky, of December 15, 1806. 

 There is no Saratoga county in Kentucky, and con- 

 sequently the "fact worth knowing" probably hails 

 from Saratoga county in New York. 



Agentlemanof Rochester was lately in Saratoga county, 

 and was there shown an apple-tree in fine healthy condi- 

 tion, which had been ill, subjected to treatment with 

 calomel, and thoroughly cured. This tree was afflicted 

 with insects, which were destroying it and rendering it 

 unproductive. A hole was bored into the body of the 

 tree nearly through the sap, and two grains of calomel 

 inserted. As soon as this calomel was taken up by the 

 sap, the vermin on the tree died, and it began to bear 

 fruit and h.as done so for three years, to the entire satis- 

 faction of the owner. Sulphur may be mixed with the 

 calomel and produce a good effect. This is a fact worth 

 knowing. 



It is much to be regretted, that the author of 

 the above did not see fit to inform us, what parti- 

 cular kind of " insects" were infesting the sick 

 apple-tree. It is possible that Calomel may be 

 yood against Bark-lice, and bad against Plant-lice, 

 effective against Borers and useless against Canker- 

 worms, death upon Caterpillars and life and health 

 to the Apple-worms that bore into the cores of our 

 apples. Or must we believe that, like certain 

 ([uack medicines for the use of the Human Species, 

 ('alomel will cure every ill that Apple nature is 

 subject to '! There cannot be the least doubt, how- 

 ever, of what the article asserts, namely, that " as 

 soon as the Calomel was taken up by the sap, the 

 vertnin on the tree died." For it is chemically im- 

 possible that the sap ever should " take up" calo- 



